WHO Rabies - Bulletin - Europe
Rabies Information System of the
WHO Collaboration Centre for Rabies Surveillance and Research
FLI
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Editorial

The last issue for 2009 provides information on rabies surveillance from most European countries. In 2009, a total of 6697 animal rabies cases and eleven human cases were reported from European countries. Unfortunately, for Turkey only data for the first quarter is available. We are hoping that the technical difficulties will soon be resolved and we will update the database retrospectively once the data are available.

The global decreasing trend as compared to previous years can be observed especially in those countries that successfully implement oral rabies vaccination of foxes. However, in 2009 in Italy despite control efforts, the fox epidemic spread further westward. The Italian authorities reacted by drastically enlarging the oral vaccination area. At the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010 an emergency vaccination was undertaken with the aim to stop further spread. It is anticipated that control efforts will halt the spread and eventually eliminate rabies in Italy.

The miscellaneous article was provided by the Russian colleagues in the Far East describing a clinical human rabies case after a bat bite. The causative agent was found to be closely related to the Irkut lyssavirus species (IRKV). This is the first record of a bat associated human rabies case in Asia, and it exemplifies that bats should be regarded a potential transmitter of rabies in any region of the world. A special thank to Ivan Kuzmin (CDC) for providing first information on this case and helping to establish contacts.

Conrad Freuling
Thomas Müller


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