Vaccinate a Dog and Save a Child’s Life

Photo courtesy of NPR

Although rabies is under control in developed countries, it still kills more than 60,000 people each year—most of them children in Africa and Asia. By partnering with the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University, our clinic is working to help put an end to these statistics.

Worldwide vaccination of dogs could virtually eliminate rabies in people— nearly all cases come from domestic dog bites, and it’s almost 100 percent fatal once symptoms show up. “Where dog rabies has been locally eliminated, the disease disappears in all species,” says Guy Palmer, a veterinary infectious disease expert at Washington State University.

By forging a partnership with the Allen school, we are helping to make a difference.  Together with our clients we can save the lives of dogs and the people who care for them.

Palmer’s team is working with local health experts to begin vaccinating as many as 1,000 dogs a day in Tanzania. Since they started their program, almost no one has died from rabies in the area—down from 50 deaths every year. By 2030, the goal is to reduce the number of human deaths to zero.

Thanks to the Allen School’s efforts, there is a new rabies free zone near the Serengeti National Park—a key location where rabies has affected humans, dogs, and wildlife such as lions.