The World Health Organization has validated Chile as the first country in South America to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies as a public-health problem.
Chile's last reported human case of rabies transmitted by a dog was in 1972. The country has kept the disease away through dog vaccination, surveillance, public education, and prompt access to post-exposure treatment.
The validation required Chile to show that transmission had stayed interrupted and that its laboratory, vaccination, and response systems could prevent the disease from returning.
Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but dog-transmitted human rabies can be prevented. Chile's progress shows what sustained prevention can achieve.
