ONE RABIES DAY, STARTING THE CANINE AND FELINE RABIES VACCINATION AND AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 2024

According to the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control (CENAPRECE, 2024). A new health alert was issued in Mexico for Human Rabies, likewise the epidemiological situation according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the virus is distributed on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, with a fatality rate of almost 100 % which is responsible for more than 60,000 deaths annually worldwide, where the dog is responsible for up to 99% of human rabies cases. In the region of the Americas, since the implementation of the Program for the Elimination of Human Rabies Transmitted by Dogs in 1983, the incidence has been reduced, going from 355 cases reported in that year to two cases transmitted by dogs in 2020, with rabies transmitted by jungle mammals being the one that has taken on greater importance in recent years as the most frequent transmitter responsible through the blood-sucking bat (Desmodus rotundus). In the last five years, 65 cases of human rabies have been recorded in the Region of the Americas, of which 66% have been transmitted by jungle mammals, and in this last case we regret the case reported in Cancun in Mexico diagnosed by retro puncture -orbital with antigenic characterization variant V5 (hematophagous bat), which occurred due to aggression by a cat on a 67-year-old man who had the habit of caring for street animals, so it is essential to reiterate obtaining adequate anti-rabies vaccination coverage in dogs and cats, especially in areas with the presence of fauna potentially transmitting the disease, as well as implementing health education actions urging the population to take measures in the management of unknown and street animals for the prevention of bites or contact with this fauna with 1054 participations from the students of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the UAMVZ UAZ, as well as taking precautions and going immediately to request that the health authorities take the anti-rabies medical care protocols as soon as possible in case of an injury, however minimal, caused by these vectors