Open AccessImported Rabies Cases and Preparedness for Rabies in Japan
Author(s) -
Kanehisa Morimoto,
Masayuki Saijo
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of disaster research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.332
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1883-8030
pISSN - 1881-2473
DOI - 10.20965/jdr.2009.p0346
Subject(s) - rabies , preparedness , rabies virus , environmental health , rabies vaccine , medicine , developing country , geography , virology , biology , political science , ecology , law
Rabies has been causing some 55,000 annual deaths worldwide, mostly in the developing countries in Asia and Africa. At present, safe and effective post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) has been established and applied to more than 10 million persons each year. Nevertheless, fatal infection of human rabies imported or from wild animals has not been eradicated even in developed countries. In Japan, two imported cases occurred in 2006, the first such cases in 36 years. It is necessary to inform the public about rabies, in particular for overseas tourists, to establish the prompt and appropriate PEP systems, and to improve vaccine supply systems in order to prevent the recurrence of rabies cases in Japan.