ABSTRACT
The ultimate goals of rabies control are the protection of human health and the avoidance of economic losses; both can best be achieved by prophylactic vaccination of domestic animals. A far more ambitious task is the control of the disease in the important terrestrial rabies hosts: small-to medium-sized carnivores, such as domestic dogs, jackals (Canis aureus and C. mesomelas), red foxes (V. vulpes), striped skunks (M. mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and mongooses (Herpestes aureopunctatus). Theoretically, rabies can be eliminated either by drastic decimation of populations or by mass immunization of the hosts.
