July 2019 AST Magazine AST July 2019 Magazine | Page 21

The
U.S. averages 1-3 human cas- Rabies is nearly July
always
fatal 35 if
www.AmericanSecurityToday.com
2019 - Edition
es of rabies a year now, down from people don’t get rabies PEP be-
30-50 cases per year in the 1940s. fore symptoms start.
This decrease is largely due to rou-
tine pet vaccination and availability
of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP),
which combines rabies vaccine and
rabies immune globulin to prevent
infection after exposure to the virus.
The U.S. rabies landscape has shift-
ed dramatically during the past 81
years.
Before 1960, bites from rabid dogs
caused most human rabies cases in
the U.S.
Each year, about 55,000 people in Mass pet-vaccination programs and
the U.S. seek PEP after a potential ra- leash laws enacted in the 1950s sig-
bies exposure.
nificantly reduced rabies in dogs.
(Rabies is a virus that infects wildlife, especially bats, raccoons, foxes, and skunks in the US. Cour-
tesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and YouTube.)
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