The day also marks the death anniversary of the famous French chemist and microbiologist, Louis Pasteur, who developed the first anti-rabies vaccine. Louis Pasteur died on 28th September 1895.
- 28th September 2022 marks the 16th observance of World Rabies Day.
The theme of World Rabies Day 2022 is “Rabies: One Health, Zero Death”, which highlights the relation between the environment with both people and animals.
Background:
i.In 2007, World Rabies Day was established by Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate death from canine rabies by 2030, and recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- It is an event designed to be inclusive, uniting people, organizations, and stakeholders across all sectors against rabies
ii.The first World Rabies Day was observed on 28 September 2007.
About Rabies Vaccine:
i.Rabies vaccine is an active immunizing agent used to prevent infection caused by the rabies virus.
ii.In 1885, Louis Pasteur developed the earliest effective vaccine against rabies that was first used to treat a human bite victim.
iii.He administered his first experimental rabies vaccine to a 9-year-old boy named Joseph Meister on 6 July 1885.
About Rabies:
i.It is a zoonotic viral disease. It is caused by the Rabies virus, of the Lyssavirus genus, within the family Rhabdoviridae.
- It is a Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) virus that is present in the saliva of a rabid animal (dog, cat, monkey, etc).
- It is invariably transmitted following a bite of a rabid animal that leads to deposition of the saliva and the virus in the wound.
ii.Dogs are the most common animals affected by rabies all around the world. More than 99 percent of rabies in humans is caused by dog bites.
- Rabies is 100% fatal but 100% vaccine-preventable.
iii.Major health organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are working together to eliminate rabies deaths in people that are caused by dogs by 2030.
Note-The GARC aims to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030 at the global level.
About Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC):
Headquarters- Manhattan, Kansas, United States of America (USA)
Executive Director- Prof. Louis Nel
