Rabies

What is rabies?

Image of a bat

Rabies is a central nervous system disease of mammals with the highest case-fatality ratio among infectious diseases. It is zoonotic (can be passed from animals to humans) and is most commonly transmitted by the bite of an infected animal.

Rabies in terrestrial animals is present in all continents with the exception of some islands (e.g. Hawaii, Japan and New Zealand), an increasing number of European countries and Antarctica.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that 50,000 rabies deaths occur in humans worldwide each year. The highest number of human rabies cases are reported in Africa and Asia, particularly the Indian sub-continent.

What causes rabies?

Rabies is caused by a virus. All rabies viruses belong to the genus Lyssavirus within a family of bullet shaped viruses known as the Rhabdoviridae within the order Mononegavirales. The most commonly found strain of rabies is called rabies virus (RABV; genotype 1) which is the type that infects both terrestrial animals worldwide and bats in the Americas.

Rabies in the UK

The UK is currently free of classical rabies (RABV) but we have a type of rabies virus called the European Bat Lyssavirus type 2 (EBLV-2). This type is present in UK's Daubenton's bats. There have been 6 cases of EBLV-2 in Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii) in the UK between 1996 and 2007 and approximately 4% of healthy Daubenton’s bats are seropositive. European bat lyssaviruses have been responsible for four human deaths in Europe, including the death of a bat worker in Scotland in November 2002.

Submissions

Please download the submission form if you want to submit either:

  • a bat for rabies passive surveillance (BAT1),
  • or dog and cat sera for rabies post vaccination antibody determination (VLARAB1 for Pet Travel Scheme)

If you are going on holiday and want advice about the risk of rabies, please see the Department of Health's website.

National Reference Laboratory

VLA is the national reference laboratory for rabies diagnosis and surveillance. We are also a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centre and the World Animal Health (OIE) Reference Laboratory for the characterisation of rabies and rabies related viruses.

This means we aim to: 

  • ensure rapid detection of a rabies incident and plan for a rapid scale-up contingency.
  • provide consultancy and information on the global situation.
  • provide a means of tracing the source of new outbreaks by molecular epidemiology.
  • provide serological testing to support pet travel schemes.

VLA Rabies & Wildlife Zoonoses Group

The VLA Rabies and Wildlife Zoonoses Group is actively involved in a wide range of research and surveillance programmes.

The Group comprises virologists, immunologists and molecular biologists who are responsible for the laboratory diagnosis of rabies in both animals and humans and also for serological testing.

We also manage a number of surveillance programmes of UK domestic and wildlife species including bats.