“The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Bhutan’s elimination of dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem in the country. Bhutan is the first country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve this success.
Rabies is a viral disease that is almost always fatal once clinical symptoms appear. However, rabies deaths are preventable. On one hand, vaccinating dogs curbs the disease at its source; on the other, prompt use of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) stops the virus from reaching the central nervous system after a bite. PEP consists of thorough wound washing, administration of a course of human rabies vaccine and, when indicated, rabies immunoglobulins (RIG) injection.”
