_??_ Fig. 1. Annual number of subjects who were bitten by possibly rabid animals in the rabies endemic regions and thereafter visited our vaccine clinic to receive the rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. =female; =male
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ABSTRACT Actual Situation of Rabies Naohide Takayama Department of Pediatrics, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital Rabies is a preventable, but incurable, infectious disease caused by the rabies virus that belongs to the genus Lyssavirus of the family Rhabdoviridae. Although no human or animal rabies cases have been reported in Japan since 1957, rabies is still endemic in many countries. The possibility that rabies may invade Japan must therefore be kept in mind. Recently, more than 16 million Japanese people travel abroad annually. Consequently rabies seems most likely to occur among travelers who return to Japan without proper post-exposure treatment after having been bitten by stray dogs or cats in rabies-endemic regions. Today in Japan, however, few medical institutions keep rabies vaccine in stock and thus cannot offer post-exposure vaccination to travelers bitten by animals in rabies-endemic areas. To ensure that deaths from rabies, especially imported rabies, improvement in the supply of post-exposure prophylaxis to travelers bitten by possibly rabid animals is strongly called for. (JJAAM 2002; 13: 351-60) Key Words: imported rabies, rabies vaccine, post-exposure prophylaxis, pre-exposure immunization, zoonosis