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Rabies: Latin America and the Caribbean on

the cusp of eliminating rabies deaths

8 HORA PASA , 25 DI SEPTEMBER 2019 14:48
SECCION: SALUD

World Rabies Day: Latin America and the Caribbean on the cusp of eliminating rabies deaths
According to PAHO, in the Region of the Americas, cases of rabies in humans fell from 258 to

13 between 1983 and 2018, and cases in dogs fell from 11,276 to 163 in the same period.
Brasilia, Brazil, 25 September 2019 (PAHO/WHO)— Countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean are closer than ever to achieving the elimination of human deaths by rabies. Over the
last 12 months, just five cases were reported in the Region, announced the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO) on the eve of World Rabies Day – 28 September.

According to PAHO, which has established the goal of eliminating human deaths from rabies by
2022, today, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the only countries on the continent where
people have died from rabies.

Since 1982, when PAHO began to coordinate anti-rabies initiatives in the Region, countries
have reduced new cases of rabies in humans by more than 95% and rabies in dogs by 98%. As