Editorial: Special Issue “Innovative Techniques and Approaches in the Control and Prevention of Rabies Virus”

Rabies is an ancient lethal scourge that has plagued humankind for centuries. Globally, 60,000 human deaths are estimated to occur each year from rabies virus (RABV) transmission in domestic dogs, mostly affecting children. While rabies is recognized as a neglected disease, there is cause for optimism in the context of growing global recognition, collaboration and commitment to advance a tripartite agenda to eliminate human deaths transmitted from rabid dogs by 2030, also known as “Zero By Thirty” (ZBT). Nevertheless, the ZBT goal must also confront competing challenge(s) of tracking and mitigating human morbidity and mortality during a global pandemic caused by a viral zoonosis with likely origins from one or more wildlife reservoirs. In this context, the concept of One Health has never been more relevant and symbolic as demonstrated with prevention, control and elimination to end human rabies deaths through the mass vaccination of domestic and wild animal reservoir populations