By Dr. Gowri Yale
Dr. Gowri Yale, a veterinary doctor and internationally recognised expert in rabies, warns that recent detections in Central Europe show disease elimination is never permanent. She argues that sustained vaccination, strong surveillance and genuine One Health collaboration remain essential to protect both animals and people — and to keep hard-won gains against a still deadly, yet highly preventable disease.
Rabies presents a paradox: it is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases once symptoms appear, yet it is also one of the most preventable. Despite decades of progress and the availability of effective vaccines, rabies continues to claim nearly 60,000 lives every year.
Recent detections of rabies in parts of Central Europe serve as an important reminder that disease elimination is not a permanent achievement. Even where significant progress has been made, maintaining freedom from rabies requires ongoing vigilance, robust surveillance and sustained investment in prevention. As animal and human populations become increasingly interconnected across borders, protecting these gains remains a shared responsibility.
Rabies is also one of the clearest examples of why a One Health approach matters. The disease sits at the intersection of animal health, human health and environmental management. Success depends on coordinated action between veterinary services, public health authorities, wildlife experts, policymakers, local communities and industry partners.
Vaccination: the cornerstone of rabies prevention
Vaccination remains the most effective tool for rabies control. Yet achieving and sustaining high levels of immunity across animal populations requires more than periodic campaigns. Long-term commitment, adequate resources and strategies tailored to local realities are essential to ensure that protection reaches the populations most at risk.
One of the greatest challenges lies in dogs, which remain the primary source of human rabies transmission globally, particularly in reaching wildlife reservoirs and “last-mile” animal populations (free-roaming and stray dogs) that may be inaccessible through traditional capture-and-vaccinate approaches. Closing these immunity gaps is crucial to tackle re-emergence of the disease, even in areas where significant progress has been achieved. Innovative vaccination approaches, including oral vaccination strategies where appropriate, can help expand coverage and support broader disease-control efforts.
Surveillance: the foundation for sustainable elimination
Effective rabies control is multi-layered. Vaccination alone is not enough and must be supported by strong surveillance systems capable of detecting cases quickly, monitoring disease circulation and guiding targeted interventions with resources deployed where they can have the greatest impact.
Timely laboratory confirmation, transparent reporting mechanisms and coordinated information-sharing between animal and public health authorities are all critical components of an effective surveillance framework.
One Health collaboration
For regional and global rabies elimination programmes to succeed, collaboration must extend beyond individual sectors. Governments, and where relevant, municipal organisations, civil society, research institutions and animal health companies all have a role to play in developing and implementing effective, science-based strategies.
The world already possesses the tools needed to dramatically reduce the burden of rabies and ultimately eliminate dog-mediated human rabies. The challenge is not a lack of scientific knowledge but ensuring the sustained implementation of proven measures. Continued investment in vaccination, surveillance and cross-sector collaboration are essential.
Read also
Combating Newcastle Disease: Protecting the Future of Poultry Farming
How does drought propagate along a European river? Lessons from the Danube
Energy addition, still not transition: fossil fuels remain the backbone of progress
This post is also available in: DE