World Rabies Day will be observed Sept. 28 to mobilize awareness and resources in support of human rabies prevention and animal rabies control. Seventy-four countries participated in last year’s inaugural World Rabies Day, educating more than 54.3 million people, according to the Alliance for Rabies Control, a United Kingdom charity that helped spearhead the effort with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rabies is still a killer—55,000 people around the world die from rabies in a year, and one person dies from rabies every 10 minutes, according to the Alliance for Rabies Control. In recognition of World Rabies Day, a variety of events are scheduled, including vaccination clinics, lectures and educational seminars, festivals and dog walks. Among them: In Atlanta on Sept. 28, World Rabies Day Run will take place 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the historic district at Inman Park. Click here for details. Sept. 28–Oct. 3: The 19th International Conference on Rabies in the Americas will be held at the CDC in Atlanta. Researchers, directors of national and municipal programs, laboratory workers and others get together to discuss successes and challenges with rabies prevention. Click here for details. Ongoing until Sept. 28: Rabies Education and Outreach by Robert Dedmon, MD, former vice president of medical affairs at Kimberly-Clark Corp. and current volunteer for the Rabies Working Group. Dr. Dedmon is conducting rabies awareness/educational programs for public and health professional groups. For details, e-mail drbobred@aol.com. Oct. 18: Tuskegee University in Alabama will hold a rabies symposium on its campus. The symposium, sponsored by Merial of Duluth, Ga., will include U.S. and international speakers who will offer both national and global perspectives of this public health threat. For details, email peter.costa@worldrabiesday.org. Other observations may be found at www.worldrabiesday.org. Merial is also sponsoring veterinary medical symposiums on rabies education in Russia and has contributed to various educational events on rabies control in Pakistan. It has provided vaccinations for doctors in Nepal and has distributed 12,000 rabies prevention education posters in Africa. Intervet/Schering Plough Animal Health of Millsboro, Del., is once again supporting the Afya Serengeti project, translated as Health for the Serengeti. The program started in 1997 to vaccinate village dogs on the edge of Africa’s Serengeti to try to lessen the incidence of disease. When a veterinarian vaccinates a pet with a Continuum canine or feline vaccine between now and Dec. 31, Intervet/Schering Plough will in turn donate a dose of rabies vaccine to the project. Up to 150,000 doses of vaccines will be donated. World Rabies Day partners include: Alliance for Rabies Control American Animal Hospital Assn. American Assn. of Feline Practitioners American Veterinary Medical Assn. Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges British Veterinary Assn. Canadian Veterinary Medical Assn. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Federation of Veterinarians of Europe Kansas State University National Assn. of State Public Health Veterinarians U.S. Army Veterinary Corps World Organization for Animal Health World Veterinary Assn. <HOME>
