Despite increasing detection of new Lyssavirus infections in bats and concerns about vampire bat-transmitted rabies in Latin America, most human rabies deaths worldwide result from cases of dog-transmitted rabies in Asia and Africa.
Canine rabies has been well controlled in many parts of the world, including North and South America and western Europe, but it remains endemic throughout Asia (including Eurasia) and Africa. Recent estimates indicate that, each year, approximately 15 million humans are exposed to rabies and 60 000 humans die from rabies as a result of being bitten by infected dogs.1