Conflicting data on rabies deaths creates tracking hurdles for India

UPDATE - follow-up to Rabies deaths recorded in India far lesser than estimates from ICMR-led study: Differing data systems and government records show a major mismatch in rabies mortality numbers across India, complicating efforts to track the disease as the country aims to eliminate dog-mediated rabies by 2030.

The Numbers

The Union Health Ministry's surveillance system reported 21 rabies deaths in 2022, 50 in 2023, and 54 in 2024, while one death was recorded in January 2025. In contrast, the Registrar General of India's medical certification system recorded 66 deaths in 2022 and 271 in 2023. Meanwhile, a recent community-based study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and led by ICMR-NIE researchers estimated that India sees 5,726 rabies deaths every year. The ICMR study surveyed 3,37,808 people across 78,807 households in 60 districts across 15 States, estimating 9.1 million animal bites annually, including 5.6 million dog bites.

Reasons And Gaps

A senior Health Ministry official noted that the datasets use different methods and cannot be directly compared, highlighting a vast gap between reported surveillance deaths and modelled estimates. Public health expert and former ICMR chief Nirmal Kumar Ganguly stated that consolidated data is missing because many deaths occur where they cannot be measured. The Lancet study also revealed that one in five dog-bite victims received no anti-rabies vaccine, only 66.2% got at least three doses, and roughly one in 10 eligible victims received passive immunisation. The National Centre for Disease Control states that efforts continue to make human rabies a notifiable disease nationwide.

Context

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, though it remains completely preventable through timely vaccination and care. Domestic dogs cause most human transmissions, and India accounts for a large share of the global rabies burden, according to World Health Organization estimates.