During the reporting period (3rd
quarter 2009) less than 1300 rabies cases were reported from
European countries. Interestingly, for the first time rabies
was confirmed in a bat in Finland. This puts the historical
human rabies case of EBLV-2 origin into new perspectives. We
hope to provide additional information on this once it is
available. Also, this quarter is the first in which no cases
of classical rabies were detected and reported in Poland – a
result of its long-term commitment to rabies control by
large scale oral rabies vaccination of wildlife (foxes). On
the other hand, fox rabies as re-emerged recently in the
Northeast of Italy seems to persist in this area with
additional cases reported. Counteractions of the Italian
authorities will hopefully show effects in the near future.
The first miscellaneous article covers the
diagnosis of rabies in a wolf which attacked a man in
Croatia. This problem has been described before in other
countries and is clearly a reflection of the severe rabies
situation in the country. Therefore, additional information
on the situation of rabies in Croatia is also provided. In
issue 1/2009 we presented our view on the problems of
tendering for oral rabies vaccine baits in the article “Oral
Rabies Vaccination (ORV) campaigns in jeopardy!?”. In this
issue we publish the opinion of our French colleagues.
Despite differences in opinion we should never lose sight of
the penultimate goal, the elimination of rabies from the fox
population.
Conrad Freuling
Thomas Müller
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