**2. Economic impact of rabies in livestock**

Hampson et al. [38] estimated the economic costs of canine rabies to be 8.6 billion USD, mainly due to loss of productivity due to premature deaths, costs of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and income loss for seeking PEP. Costs of Livestock deaths were 512 million USD per year, especially in livestock-dependent African economies (e.g., Sudan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania) and Asia (China, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan). In Bhutan, rabies results in loss of cattle and their production, thus causing direct economic losses to the farmers besides a cost to the government due to managing outbreaks and provision of mass rabies PEP [39]. Most rabies human deaths were in Asia and Africa. Estimated rabies human deaths worldwide annually are 55,000, about 31,000 in Asia and 24,000 in Africa. In Bangladesh, dogs bit nearly 100,000 people, with at least 2,000 rabies deaths in 2009 [40].

Besides its public health significance, the occurrence of rabies in domestic animals (cattle, sheep, and goats), which are the source of food and income to the poor rural people, had raised its economic importance. The authors reviewed a report stating that the incidence of rabies in livestock is re-emerging disease reported in rabies endemic and free countries [29].


#### *Rabies Virus at the Beginning of 21st Century*

