Rabies shots key for protection

World Rabies Day isn’t something you celebrate. It doesn’t lend itself to T-shirt giveaways or the sale of commemorative cupcakes. But it is an opportunity to make a difference.

World Rabies Day is Sept. 28, focusing on a disease that claims about 150 lives a day, mostly children, around the world. It’s a chance for the Alliance for Rabies Control to educate the public, raise funds and impress on pet owners the importance of rabies vaccinations.

"For so long, rabies education materials have been out there,” says Peter Costa, spokesman for the alliance. "Different organizations around the world, from local health departments to the World Health Organization, have had these materials, but it became clear individuals in certain countries who needed them most found them the hardest to find. Or they weren’t in the right language or otherwise were inaccessible.”

The alliance, teaming with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched World Rabies Day in 2007. It’s mission: make the Web sites rabiescontrol.net and worldrabiesday.org centralized locations for information and resources.

Rabies is caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The virus, which afflicts only mammals, is found in the saliva of an infected animal and is usually transmitted to people or other animals through a bite. Rabies often is found in the wild in bats, raccoons, foxes and skunks. Dogs, cats, cattle, horses and other farm animals can be afflicted.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services