World Rabies Day

On World Rabies Day, the National Food Agency will conduct a free vaccination of domestic animals on September 28, the ministry said. Free vaccinations to pets will be conducted by veterinarians in Vake Park in a specially arranged open space.

World Rabies Day was established at the initiative of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and is celebrated annually. The National Food Agency joined the initiative in 2013.

During this time, as a result of the agency's activities, cases of animal rabies in Georgia decreased by 65-72%. This year, 270,000 animals are planned to be vaccinated free of charge. As of September, 230,000 dogs and cats have already been vaccinated.

World Rabies Day is designed to draw attention to the problem of the spread of the disease, as well as its consequences. The date was chosen due to the fact that on that day Louis Pasteur, a famous microbiologist, one of the creators of the rabies vaccine, died in 1895. Rabies is a viral infection of animals and humans, prevalent mainly among mammals of the canine family and transmitted from them, usually through a bite and less often by mucus.

Among infectious diseases, rabies (another name - hydrophobia) occupies a special place due to absolute lethality (if in the very first hours the infected person is not provided with the necessary help, he will inevitably perish). According to the Alliance for the Fight against Rabies, 55,000 people die of rabies every year - or, on average, one person every 10 minutes.

By Shawn Wayne