World Rabies Day 2024

23 Sep 2024

World Rabies Day is held on 28 September each year on the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur, to celebrate his life and work as the first person to successfully create a vaccine against rabies.

This year's theme is "Breaking Rabies Boundaries". It reflects the need to move beyond the status quo, where eliminating rabies remains challenging for many parts of the world, causing suffering and claiming lives of both human and animals, and to encourage the global community that they need to work together to break a range of boundaries that are preventing progress with eliminating rabies in humans by the year 2030 (Zero by 30).

• Further information on this year’s theme, including information on how you can get involved with the World Rabies Day campaign can be found on the Global Alliance for Rabies Control website..

What is Rabies?

Rabies is a serious viral infection which affects the brain and nerves. The virus is spread through the saliva of infected animals. People usually become infected with rabies following a bite or scratch from an infected animal.

• 99.9% of people who become infected with rabies will die.
• Worldwide more than 59,000 people die from rabies every year.
• Over 95% of people who die from rabies are located in Africa and Asia, following a bite from an infected dog, although it is very important to understand that other animals such as monkeys and cats can also carry the virus
• Nearly half of those bitten by rabies-infected animals each year are children under 15 years.
• Effective and safe vaccines exist for both humans and dogs, and if given are highly protective.

See the fitfortravel Rabies page for more information on the disease, and how you can protect yourself against rabies when travelling abroad.