About PAHO Search Vol. In 1983 a regional initiative was launched to eradicate rabies in the principal cities of Latin America. Since then, the number of human cases in the Region has dropped. Community participation campaigns have been successful, as have efforts to ensure cooperation between countries and intersectoral coordination, chiefly between the health and agriculture sectors. Belize, Costa Rica, Chile y Uruguay, have not recorded any human or canine cases since at least 1990.
Urban rabies is down significantly.
Between 1989 and 1992, only four major cities reported cases of human rabies, most of the cases are reported in towns with population less than 50,000 inhabitants. Specific mortality from rabies has dropped from 1.3 cases per 1,000,000 population in 1980 to 0.3 cases per 1,000,000 in 1993. The incidence of canine rabies in Latin America has fallen from an average of 20,518 cases reported per year between 1980 and 1982 to an average of 8,069 per year in the period of 1991-1993. The annual average for the period was 17,655 cases. Mongooses continue to be reservoirs of rabies in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Puerto Rico.