Abstract
Rabies is the fatal once the symptoms appear. It is zoonotic virus that causes severe inflammation of brain as well as spinal cord. It is caused by Rabies virus ( RABV ) which belongs to lyssavirus genus. It is transmitted when saliva enters the body by scratch or bite. It is highly fatal disease with estimation of around 59,000 mortality annually worldwide. 95% of cases are prevalent only in Asia and Africa with 99% of cases are transmissited by dog. Children under the age of 15 roughly accounts for 40-50% of total cases. The real number of cases is significantly underreported due to weak surveillance system. Global economic costs approach US$ 8.6 billion yearly. This literature review collected evidence from various reliable sources such as PubMed, Scopus, and Medline searches using Boolean operators to examine deeply various important aspects: incidence trends, regional disparities, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) effectiveness, canine vaccination coverage, as well as the “Zero by 30” elimination strategy. Methods followed systematic search protocols for peer reviewed studies and official reports from 1990–2025. Results are organized into four sub sections including global and regional epidemiology, demographic patterns as well as underreporting which includes real community survey data from India 2022–23, preventive strategies and useful interventions, and progress toward elimination targets, supported by an extracted data table and a pie chart of regional death distribution. Discussion: contextualizes findings within One Health frameworks, socioeconomic determinants, and implementation barriers. Conclusions emphasize scaled dog vaccination (≥70% coverage), improved PEP access (including monoclonal antibodies), strengthened surveillance, and multisectoral coordination as essential to achieving zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030. At least 30 IEEE-style citations drawn primarily from PubMed-indexed sources support the synthesis.