# Chile just ended dog-borne rabies

> Fifty years of vaccination vans and door knocks made Chile the first South American country to stop dog-to-human rabies.
- Title: Chile just ended dog-borne rabies · ABC News | Shortify
- Summary: Fifty years of vaccination vans and door knocks made Chile the first South American country to stop dog-to-human rabies. Rabies deaths are a policy choice…
- Keywords: public health, rabies, chile, vaccination, news, just, ended, dog-borne, ABC News
- Source: ABC News — https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/validates-chile-south-american-country-eliminate-dog-transmitted-136436947
- Author: ABC News
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: public health, rabies, chile, vaccination, who, news
## A first for South America
The WHO validated Chile as the first country in South America to eliminate dog-transmitted rabies in humans, after more than five decades of prevention and surveillance work.
## The last case was 1972
Chile's final reported dog-to-human rabies case happened in 1972. Everything since has been about keeping the number at zero rather than bringing it down.
## Why rabies is so deadly
The virus spreads through infected saliva, usually a bite, but also through the eyes, nose or mouth. Once symptoms start it is almost always fatal.
## But it is preventable
Vaccination, working surveillance and fast access to post-exposure shots stop rabies before it ever becomes untreatable. The tools have existed for decades.
## Door to door, dog by dog
Chile ran mass pet vaccination campaigns, vaccinated exposed people, knocked on doors to reach dogs, managed the street dog population and pushed community education.

> They are the ones on the ground, where education, vaccination, and pet control take place.
## The gap that remains
Human cases from dog bites in the Americas are down more than 98% since 1983. Worldwide, rabies still kills close to 60,000 people a year, most of them bitten by dogs.

> Chile's success offers valuable lessons for countries working to end human deaths caused by this preventable disease.
## Key takeaway

Rabies deaths are a policy choice, not an inevitability: sustained dog vaccination and surveillance can end transmission entirely.