From Ditch Townsend, Chulmleigh, Devon, UK
Claire Wilson's article about rabies was fascinating (5 August, p 38). It reminded me of being raised at the Manorom mission hospital in rural Thailand. When our pet dog developed rabies in 1971, I had to undergo a series of traumatising (and still memorable) abdominal muscle inoculations aged only 5.
Around that time, the hospital adopted a policy of vaccinating, and red-inking, all stray dogs that wandered through its compound. The article suggests this was a wise approach. Unfortunately, it conflates the terms “elimination” and “eradication”. This was not controversial until 20 years ago when the World Health Organization began suggesting that leprosy could be eliminated – which can be reduction to zero of the incidence of a specified disease in a defined geographical area – without eradication, which would be permanent reduction to zero of its worldwide incidence with no further intervention required.
The confusion has now spread to other neglected diseases such as . The small print to look out for in WHO texts is a goal of eliminating a disease only “as a public health problem”.
The editor writes:
• The WHO indeed rabies.
Advertisement
