Rabies

Rabies is a cross-species viral disease that is exceedingly rare in many Western countries, because of giving all the little puppies autism animal vaccination.[1] Rabies causes about 26,000 to 55,000 deaths per year, mostly in Asia and Africa where it is typically transmitted to humans by dog bites.[1] In the U.S. the plurality of cases come from bats[1] (11 of the 34 cases reported between 2003 and 2011); raccoons are also a popular vector, primarily in the northeast, accounting for 7 of the cases.[2] Almost all mammals are susceptible to rabies, and can transmit the disease to humans. Birds are almost entirely immune to rabies, as their immune systems are equipped to handle it, and even those which show symptoms almost always have it clear up in a couple days.[3][4][5] Rabies is pretty damn nasty and almost always fatal after symptoms have developed (even today), which is why vaccination is so important. Vaccination after exposure (but before symptoms) is usually effective in preventing disease.[1]

Vaccination

Rabies has been fully or partially eliminated in many countries as a result of dog vaccination, human vaccination, and wildlife vaccination (which involves dropping edible vaccines into the wilderness[6]). A recent example is Bangladesh, which reduced the number of rabies cases by 50% through the management of dog bites, mass dog vaccination and increased availability of vaccines free of charge.[1][7]

A number of countries are considered to be "rabies-free" in land animals (not bats).[8]

gollark: Infection-based herd immunity is mostly a terrible idea for other reasons, such as tons more people getting it and dying, and massively overloaded hospitals.
gollark: Which is surely even *more* ridiculously rare than being infected twice.
gollark: I mean, yes some governments are being terrible about COVID-19 in general, that doesn't mean there's any issue with the vaccines.
gollark: I see. That seems like a stretch.
gollark: IIRC they didn't even claim it had actually gone through sufficient trials, just that they had one and were using it.

See also

References
  1. Rabies, WHO fact sheet
  2. Rabies surveillance in the United States, CDC
  3. http://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/abs/10.7589/0090-3558-24.2.264
  4. http://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/abs/10.7589/0090-3558-12.3.392
  5. http://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/abs/10.7589/0090-3558-12.3.444
  6. Estonia declares rabies-free status
  7. Bangladesh tackles rabies through mass dog vaccination
  8. Rabies-Free Countries and Political Units, CDC
  9. Were zombies and vampires inspired by a real disease? Both myths have a few things in common with a real-world nightmare: rabies (October 27, 2017) The Verge.
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