Stronger Together to End Rabies in Canada and Globally
Nicholas Viegas, Tina Lines, Christopher Fernandez-Prada
Today, for World Rabies Day, we raise awareness about this deadly zoonotic virus that is entirely preventable. Rabies is one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), a diverse group of 21 diseases and conditions that continue to affect more than a billion of the world’s most vulnerable people today. What these diseases all have in common is that while effective tools often exist, investment, access, and attention to these diseases do not.
“Neglected” does not mean distant, or irrelevant to a country like Canada. These diseases pose a persistent burden on animal and human health when surveillance, prevention, treatment and investment fail to reach the people and communities most affected. One Health strategies are particularly effective in responding to rabies as a zoonotic disease that without prompt treatment, is fatal once symptoms develop.
This year’s World Rabies Day theme, “Stronger Together,” captures why eliminating rabies requires a One Health approach connecting human and animal health, healthy environments, and equitable access to public-health systems.
While human rabies is rare in Canada, it is an endemic disease in key Canadian wildlife species, with foxes, racoons, bats and skunks being among the primary carriers. In 2024, Ontario reported a fatal case following exposure to a rabid bat – the province’s first domestically acquired human case since 1967. The virus continues to circulate in animals across the country. So far in 2026, Canada has reported 291 rabies-positive animals.
This summer, six people in Quebec’s Montérégie region received emergency preventive rabies treatment after coming into contact with two stray cats confirmed to have raccoon rabies. While these are not considered human rabies cases (as each individual exposed to the virus did not become symptomatic, having received prompt treatment that effectively prevents the virus from developing), the risk to human health is present and clear.
Canada’s relatively low number of human cases reflects the systems we have built around the disease: animal vaccination, particularly for pets and livestock, wildlife surveillance, laboratory testing, public-health follow-up and access to post-exposure prophylaxis. However, those systems work only when people recognize a possible exposure and can and DO access care quickly. That means 1) taking every potential exposure seriously, 2) washing the affected area immediately with soap and water for at least 15 minutes and 3) contacting a healthcare provider or local public-health authority without delay.
In communities around the world where dog-mediated rabies is endemic and the primary cause of human cases, a preventable exposure can still be fatal because vaccines, rabies immunoglobulin, veterinary services or timely healthcare are out of reach. Rabies is a preventable disease that no one should die of, whether in Canada or anywhere else in the world.
For Canada, World Rabies Day is not only an opportunity to look outward. It is a reminder to protect the systems that keep Canadians safe, recognize the virus circulating in our own backyard and bring our knowledge and resources to the global effort.
Media and Resources:
From Rabies to Readiness: United Against Rabies Video from the One Health Summit 2026
Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI) webinar, September 28, 2026, “Stronger Together: Canada’s Evolving Rabies Landscape“
September 26, 2024 Blog World Rabies Day: Challenges and Opportunities to Get to Zero by 30
