History of Rabies in Paraguay

Paraguay, a land-locked country, is considered at the ‘heart’ of South America. If rabies was present during the pre-colonial period, the indigenous inhabitants may have associated its presence due to supernatural causation. A paralytic disease affecting livestock was reported in the early 1800s. The first human death reported from canine exposure occurred during 1917. During 1926, after training and technological transfer, human vaccination began in the technique of the Paris Pasteur Institute. Improvements in diagnosis, vaccine production, and mass canine immunization occurred throughout the twentieth century. Control of canine rabies and prevention of urban rabies were signs of major progress by the start of the twenty-first century. However, today, in rural areas, rabies in livestock, due to transmission from vampire bats, remains under-reported. Hence, even with the elimination of canine rabies, the threat of sylvatic rabies, maintained by bats and wild mesocarnivores, requires ongoing needs for enhanced surveillance, domestic animal management, and human prophylaxis.