WOAH rabies disease profile — viral zoonosis (~59,000 human deaths/yr, 95% dog-bites, 70% dog-vaccination target, elimination by 2030, compulsory notification)

WOAH (the intergovernmental animal-health standard-setter, founded 1924 as OIE) maintains the authoritative rabies profile. This is an IGO source — per project direction, WOAH is cited by attribution (not claimed public domain); all claims are verbatim C1 substrings of the landed page.

Disease nature: Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system of mammals (dogs, cats, foxes etc.), including humans. Severity: With a fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals alike, rabies remains a global threat, killing approximately 59,000 people every year. and once rabies symptoms appear the disease is invariably fatal both in animals and humans. Transmission: 95% of human rabies cases are caused by bites from infected dogs. Geographic status: Although it has been eliminated in Western Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and parts of Latin America, the viral disease is still present in large parts of Africa and Asia.

Regulatory/Dir3 relevance — WOAH notification and status: It is therefore compulsorily for national Veterinary Authorities to notify WOAH of any rabies case in a timely manner. Rabies appears on the list of animal diseases in WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code. (code listing drives import/quarantine rules). Control: Vaccination of dogs is the preferred method of controlling and eliminating rabies worldwide. Vaccinating at least 70% of dogs in at-risk areas can reduce human cases to zero. Elimination goal: Dog-mediated rabies is targeted for elimination by 2030. Status mechanisms: At the same time, countries may also voluntarily publish self-declaration for rabies-free status.

Source: pdf-parsed/woah/disease_rabies.txt (WOAH, landed 2026-08-12).

Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)

• Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system of mammals (dogs, cats, foxes etc.), including humans.
• With a fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals alike, rabies remains a global threat, killing approximately 59,000 people every year.
• once rabies symptoms appear the disease is invariably fatal both in animals and humans
• 95% of human rabies cases are caused by bites from infected dogs.
• Although it has been eliminated in Western Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and parts of Latin America, the viral disease is still present in large parts of Africa and Asia.
• It is therefore compulsorily for national Veterinary Authorities to notify WOAH of any rabies case in a timely manner.
• Dog-mediated rabies is targeted for elimination by 2030.
• Vaccinating at least 70% of dogs in at-risk areas can reduce human cases to zero.
• Vaccination of dogs is the preferred method of controlling and eliminating rabies worldwide.
• At the same time, countries may also voluntarily publish self-declaration for rabies-free status.