Chile has become the first country in South America to receive World Health Organization validation for eliminating dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem.

The recognition, announced September 14, reflects more than 50 years without a human case — the last dog-to-human transmission was recorded in 1972 — and confirms Chile’s capacity to keep it that way through vaccination, surveillance and post-exposure treatment.

“I congratulate the government and people of Chile on this historic achievement,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Chile’s success offers valuable lessons for countries working to end human deaths from this preventable disease.”

The work was unglamorous: door-to-door dog vaccination campaigns, stray population management, laboratory networks and community education, sustained for decades.

Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, yet preventable. An estimated 59,000 people still die from it each year, with dogs behind up to 99% of human infections. Human rabies cases in the Americas have fallen about 98% since 1983 — and Chile now leads the continent’s success story.