General Information

The World Health Organization has estimated the annual number of human rabies deaths to be in excess of 55,000. Most of these deaths take place in developing countries, particularly in South and South East Asia.

In the UK the last human death from indigenous classical rabies occurred in 1902, and the last case of indigenous terrestrial animal rabies was in 1922. Most cases of rabies in the UK now occur in quarantined animals, or in people infected abroad. Since 1946 there have been 24 deaths in people infected with rabies abroad, 4 of which have occurred since 2000. There were two imported cases of rabies in 2001, one acquired in Nigeria and the other in the Philippines. A case occurred in 2005 which had been acquired by a dog bite in Goa, and in December 2008, a further case resulted from a dog bite in South Africa. None of these imported cases received post-exposure prophylactic treatment for rabies either in the country of origin or in the UK.

In 2003 it was recognised that UK bats may carry a rabies-like virus, European Bat Lyssavirus 2 (EBL2). A man who was a bat handler died from EBL2 infection probably acquired in Scotland.