The National Workshop on Rabies Prophylaxis was held over two days, 9th & 10th December,2006, at Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala. The National Workshop was organized jointly by the APCRI and the Department of Community Medicine of T. D. Medi­cal College, Alleppy.

Kerala is a very beautiful state, and some call it as "God's Own Country". The venue of the workshop was Alleppey. The name of the town in local language is Alapuzha and Alleppey is the anglicised version of the same. Probably Alappuzha is an older name.

The Programme of the First day, 9th December, 2006 was held on board the 'J'ala Sam rat" , an NC house boat used solely for meetings and conferences held in the famous back waters of Alappuzha. This house boat is self propelled, unlike those of the famous Dal Lake of Srinagar, which are stationary.

The back waters cruise on board the 'J'ala Samrat", with all the participants, organizers, inaugurators, APCRI members and other essential staff for the workshop went through an interlocking set of end­less canals flowing through vast green paddy fields and natural surroundings of great beauty and some­times over vast expanses of waters. While the cruise was going on the Inaugural Function, Release of the News Letter, the National Workshop on Rabies Pro­phylaxis and the Executive Committee Meeting of APCRI were held. It was a whole day affair from 8.30 AM. to 6 PM.

From 8.30 AM to 9 AM was registration of all par­ticipants at the "Hotel Royale Park" in Alleppy.

From 9 AM to 9.30 AM the participants were trans­ported from the "Hotel Royale Park" to the House Boat 'J'ala Sam rat" .

From 10 AM to 10.30 AM was the inauguration ceremony of the National Workshop. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Meenu Hariharan, the Director of Medical Education [DME] of the Department of Health & Family Welare, Govt. of Kerala, and Dr. A. Meharunnissa, the Prin­cipal of the T. D. Medical College Alleppy was the "Guest of Honour". The "APCRI News Letter" Vol V, issue 1, was released by Dr. Meenu Hariharan, DME.

The Scientific Session started with the four Lead Lectures, from 11 AM to 1 PM.

The First Lead Lecture was delivered by Dr. R. L. Ichhpujani NPO,IDSp,NICD,New Delhi on the "Strategies to reduce Human Rabies deaths in India".

The Second Lead Lecture was delivered by Dr. S. N. Madhusudana from NIMHANS, Bangalore, on "Intra Dermal Rabies Vaccination".

The Third Lead Lecture was delivered by Dr. Amlan Goswami, Consultant Physician from Kolkata, on "Issues in Re-exposure & Booster Vaccination" .

The Fourth Lead Lecture was delivered by Dr. G. Sampath from IPM, Hyderabad on "Issues in RIG administration" .

After a break for Lunch from 1 PM to 2 PM, there was group work from 2 PM to 4.30 PM on the four topics presented in the pre- lunch session by the four speakers. All the participants present were divided into four groups and given the task of making their recommendations on the topics allotted to them. The recommendations of each group were to be presented on the next day at the conference hall of the "Hotel Royale Park" in Alappuzha.

On Sunday 10th December, 2006 the Group Presen­tations were made in four different sessions.

The First session on "Strategies to reduce Hu­man Rabies Deaths in India" was chaired by Dr. M. K. Sudarshan and Dr. D. H. Ashwathnarayana, both from KIMS, Bangalore.

The Second session on "Intra Dermal Rabies Vaccination" was chaired by Dr. R. L. Ichhpujani from NICD, New Delhi and Dr. M. N. Siddiqui from Lucknow.

The Third session on "Booster Vaccination and Re- exposure" was chaired by Dr. Mala Chhabra from NICD, New Delhi and Dr. B. J. Mahendra from KIMS, Bangalore.

The Fourth session on "RIG Administration" was chaired by Dr. Thomas Bina D, from Kozhikode and Dr. Sumit Poddar from Kolkata.

The conclusions from the workshop were:

1. In "Strategies to reduce Human Rabies Deaths in India", the need for a National Rabies Control Programme, involving all the sectors involved in control of rabies, and with good co-ordination, was stressed.

2. In "Intra Dermal Rabies Vaccination", the confusion created by multiple directives from the Drugs Controller General of India, was high­lighted. It was felt that the "WHO Expert Consultation on Rabies, TRS 931" be fol­lowed and inputs from the ICMR study report be incorporated in it for making IDRV suitable for use in India.

3. In "Booster Vaccination and Re-expo­sure", it was felt that for Boosters, the "WHO Expert Consultation on Rabies, TRS 931", be followed.

4. In the case of Re-Exposures the conclu­sions derived at the National Workshop  on Guidelines for Prevention of Rabies organized by APCRI at Hyderabad on February 24th and 25th, 2006 to develop guidelines for prevention of Rabies (as rel­evant to our country) be followed. They are as follows: In the case of Re exposure after a full course of documented Pre I Post - exposure vaccination with modern vaccines; Only 2 boost­ers ( One on Day 0 and One on Day 3 ) are required and No RIG is required. All incomplete vaccinations, partial vaccinations or doubtful vaccinations need to be treated as fresh cases. In case of severe exposures, anti-rabies antibody titres may be done, if possible. Otherwise, it is better, to consult an in­fectious diseases expert with knowledge in field of rabies prevention, for manage­ment of the case.

5. In "RIG Administration", the consensus was that, "WHO Expert Consultation on Ra­bies, TRS 931" should be followed.

After the four sessions were over the concluding remarks were made by Dr. M. K. Sudarshan and a vote of thanks were given to the entire organizing team under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Mathew, the Organising Secretary of the Workshop, by Dr. B. J. Mahendra, Presi­dent, APCRI.

No praise is too much for the magnificent organizing skills of Dr. Thomas Mathew. He and his entire team had given everyone present a very nice experience which I am sure all will remember for the rest of their lives.