The United States is free of the canine rabies, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

However, all rabies has not gone, still, the strain is prevalent in the bat, raccoon and skunk population. Humans and dogs can become infected if bitten by any of these animals.

“The elimination of canine rabies in the United States represents one of the major public health success stories in the last 50 years. However, there is still much work to be done to prevent and control rabies globally,” said the Chief of the CDC Rabies Program, Dr Charles Rupprecht.

The announcement was made with World Rabies Day, but Dr Deborah Briggs, Executive Director of Alliance for Rabies Control said the CDC news should be seen as more than a “one day event”

“This is the first-step in a long-term effort towards human rabies prevention and animal rabies control globally.”

US state and local public health authorities have been working inexhaustibly to prevent and control rabies over the last decades.

Rupprecht said, “Our public health infrastructure, including our quarantine stations, local animal control programs, veterinarians, and clinicians all play a vital role in preserving the canine-rabies-free status in the US.”

Canine rabies has been eliminated from the US with the help of three-pronged strategy - dog vaccination, licensing and controlling stray dogs.

However, still the risks exist and the bigger problem is the adoption of dogs into the US from other countries. There should be a global control, at local and national levels.

Rabies, a viral disease, kills 55,000 people globally every year. The virus is transmitted when bitten by a rabid animal. In humans, the incubation period is one to three months. A vaccine can prevent the disease but once the symptoms emerge it becomes too late to treat the patient.

Less than 10 percent of cases are reported in domestic animals such as cats, cattle and dogs.

In rabies disease, the nervous system gets infected and causes encephalopathy that leads to death. Fever, headache, and general feeling of un-wellness are the early symptoms of it. The other neurological symptoms include insomnia, slight or partial paralysis, agitation, anxiety confusion, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water) and difficulty in swallowing.

Death happens after a few days later of the symptoms emergence.

Rupprecht warned, “The elimination of dog-to-dog transmission of rabies does not mean that people in the US can stop vaccinating their pets against rabies. Rabies is ever-present in wildlife and can be transmitted to dogs or other pets. We need to stay vigilant.”