Rabies in Brazil

Whether rabies existed in Brazil during the pre-Colonial period is uncertain, as there are no surviving accounts from the indigenous inhabitants. During colonization, canine rabies arrived via infected dogs that traveled with European expeditions. This introduction caused inumerable human and animal deaths over the centuries. However, rabies was recognized as a public health problem only after the settling of Portuguese royalty from Lisbon to its largest and most important overseas colony during 1808. By the end of the nineteenth century, a close personal relationship between Louis Pasteur and the emperor Dom Pedro II provided Brazilian scientists and physicians an opportunity to be trained in rabies postexposure prophylaxis and diagnosis. Thereafter, Pasteur Institutes were created throughout the country for human rabies prevention and applied research. Major epidemiological findings were also made over the past century, with the discovery of hematophagous and non-hematophagous bat involvement as major rabies virus reservoirs and the secondary cross species transmission of rabies virus involving bats, cats, and humans. Nationally, the efforts to control urban rabies began much earlier than most of Latin America. Notably, São Paulo state, as well as São Paulo universities, took the leadership in this initiative on the control of canine rabies, driving its urban occurrence as a rare event today. This diminishing of rabid dog cases throughout the country, associated with the development of applied molecular biology, provided an opportunity for epidemiological introspection of rabies virus and its myriad hosts, including the unique involvement of non-human primates. Considering the great diversity of wild mammals, new potential reservoirs of rabies virus are anticipated for emergence in Brazil, as well as novel methods for prevention and control.