Origins and Contemporary Epidemiology of Rabies in the Insular Caribbean

Today, rabies is enzootic in North, Central and South America. In contrast to the mainland, the Caribbean represents the largest region of the Americas that seems to be generally free of this zoonosis, with very few countries reporting enzootic rabies. An introspection of the human and animal populations on these islands provides a historical footnote to the origins of canine and wildlife rabies. The Caribbean islands were populated for thousands of years by Amerindians, prior to the arrival of Europeans. Domesticated dogs and several species of bats were indigenous on multiple islands, although vampire bats are extant only on Trinidad. Despite the presence of such potential reservoirs throughout the archipelago, there is scant Pre-Columbian evidence of rabies, in contrast to post-colonization. Bat rabies was likely present before European settlement and may extend beyond the vampire bat endemic island of Trinidad due to natural bat movement. Canine rabies appeared in the West Indies during the mid-eighteenth century. To date, the disease perpetuates with canine and mesocarnivore variants in Cuba, Grenada, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. After centuries of colonial introduction and ecological exacerbation, major challenges remain throughout this region related to the global elimination of canine rabies and the apparent risks posed by wildlife rabies to agriculture, conservation biology, and public health.