Rabies Pre Exposure

About Rabies Pre Exposure

Pre exposure rabies vaccination is offered, under national guidance, to people at higher risk of rabies exposure, such as veterinarians, animal handlers, some travellers, and laboratory workers. Modern rabies vaccines, including human diploid cell vaccine HDCV and purified chick embryo cell vaccine PCECV, are much safer than the original Pasteur vaccine. Pre exposure vaccination is given as a short multi dose series, and previously vaccinated people need a simpler post exposure regimen. WHO estimates that tens of thousands of people die of rabies annually, mostly in Africa and Asia. Dogs are responsible for up to 99 percent of human rabies transmission. Mass vaccination of dogs is the most cost effective approach to eliminating human rabies. The WHO aims to eliminate dog mediated human rabies by 2030.