To evaluate the effect of parameter changes on the required stockpile and the total number of infections, we ran the simulations for different treatment levels (between 0% and 80%) in the presence/absence of resistance. These simulations, illustrated in Figure 1 , correspond to Figure 2 in the main text, and show that a substantially larger stockpile is required when treatment exceeds a certain level in a constant treatment strategy. This is due to the wide spread of highly transmissible resistance under high pressure of antiviral drugs, which in turn leads to a larger number of total infections. We further ran simulations for the optimal time t * in an adaptive treatment strategy (using a sample of size n = 100), to determine the sensitivity of the results on the parameters variation in minimizing the total number of infections. The results of this sensitivity analysis are illustrated in Figure 2 , with different sizes of stockpile (8.5%, 12%, 25%), when initial treatment levels (0%, 25%) change to 80% at time t * . Regardless of the level of stockpiles, the results show that aggressive treatment should be implemented with shorter delay after the onset of the outbreak as the basic reproduction number increases. However, the implementation of intensive treatment requires a significantly longer delay for higher initial treatment levels as the reproduction number decreases. Transmission Dynamics and Prospects for the Elimination of Canine Rabies Rabies has been eliminated from domestic dog populations in Western Europe and North America, but continues to kill many thousands of people throughout Africa and Asia every year. A quantitative understanding of transmission dynamics in domestic dog populations provides critical information to assess whether global elimination of canine rabies is possible. We report extensive observations of individual rabid animals in Tanzania and generate a uniquely detailed analysis of transmission biology, which explains important epidemiological features, including the level of variation in epidemic trajectories. We found that the basic reproductive number for rabies, R(0), is very low in our study area in rural Africa (∼1.2) and throughout its historic global range (<2). This finding provides strong support for the feasibility of controlling endemic canine rabies by vaccination, even near wildlife areas with large wild carnivore populations. However, we show that rapid turnover of domestic dog populations has been a major obstacle to successful control in developing countries, thus regular pulse vaccinations will be required to maintain population-level immunity between campaigns. Nonetheless our analyses suggest that with sustained, international commitment, global elimination of rabies from domestic dog populations, the most dangerous vector to humans, is a realistic goal. Rabies has been one of the most feared diseases throughout human history and has the highest human case-fatality proportion of any infectious disease [1, 2] . Every year over 7 million people receive post-exposure prophylaxis, and an estimated 55,000 people die from rabies [3] (more than yellow fever, dengue fever, or Japanese encephalitis [4] ). Over 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries where rabies is endemic in domestic dog populations [5] . However, the impacts of canine rabies are often overlooked, largely because human rabies deaths are now extremely rare in Western Europe and North America, where mass vaccination successfully eliminated the disease from domestic dog populations [6] . Increasing incidence of canine rabies in Africa and Asia has prompted concerns that similar strategies may not be effective in these areas [7, 8] . The critical question now is whether global elimination of domestic dog rabies is achievable. Keys to answering this question include: a quantitative understanding of the transmission dynamics of rabies in domestic dog populations, particularly the basic reproductive number, R 0 ; a quantitative understanding of domestic dog demography; and information about the practicality and effectiveness of various vaccination strategies. While recent data support the feasibility and practicality of domestic dog vaccination strategies [9] [10] [11] , there are very little quantitative data on rabies transmission dynamics [12] and the underlying demographic processes.