Rabies is a typical zoonosis directly transmitted to neural tissues by bites and shows acute progressive encephalomyelitis due to lyssaviruses. “One Health” is a key word for the control and prevention of rabies. Bats are the principal reservoir hosts for most lyssaviruses, but rabies lyssavirus (RABV) was successfully distributed among the meso-carnivores in the world represented by canids, raccoons, skunks, mongooses, ferret badgers and as much as only bats of the New World. In Japan rabies has not been reported from 1958, except three human imported cases of 1970 and 2006. The imported animal rabies from endemic countries was often reported in Europe and the United States, even after the eradication of the indigenous dog rabies. In Taiwan wildlife rabies of ferret badgers was suddenly reported in 2013 after canine rabies free for 52 years, and also a new lyssavirus was found from Japanese house bats in 2016 and 2017. These facts were a strong impact and urged reconsidering of a rabies free status in Japan. “The National Guideline for Rabies Control, 2001” was established in 2001 for the administrative measures and report system of rabies in the local government, and the action plan was also come out in 2013 as “The National Guideline on Rabies Countermeasures, 2013” for the risk management after found rabid animals in Japan. In reaction to the wildlife rabies in Taiwan “The Guideline for Animal Rabies Survey” was developed in 2014. In this article recent rabies in the world was overviewed focused on the etiological agents and the disease burden to the public health. The avail of rabies management with indispensable animal surveillance in Japan was also discussed on a view of veterinary epidemiology as well as a value of the medical and veterinary cooperation.
