On 6 July 1885, Louis Pasteur made medical history by successfully treating young Joseph Meister with the first effective rabies vaccine, marking a significant milestone in preventive medicine. However, despite this breakthrough and the availability of effective vaccines for humans and animals, rabies remains one of the most neglected diseases worldwide. A lack of political and global attention means it claims tens of thousands of lives every year, particularly in Africa and Asia.
As a WHO Collaborating Centre for Rabies, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) has contributed to the global fight against rabies for 50 years. In keeping with Pasteur's spirit, the focus is on vaccinating susceptible animals. Since 1975, the further development of oral vaccination and control strategies has led to the near-complete eradication of fox rabies in Europe. Significant progress has also been made in the oral vaccination of dogs, which is being successfully implemented in Namibia, among other places. Furthermore, there has been ongoing improvement in diagnostics and the establishment of comprehensive surveillance systems. Over the past five decades, the FLI's commitment to research, innovation, and international cooperation has had a significant impact on global rabies control strategies.
The WHO Collaborating Centre is contributing to the ‘Zero by 30’ goal of the WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC). The global strategy aims to reduce the number of human deaths from dog-mediated rabies to zero by 2030.
