Original scientific paper
Oral vaccination of foxes against rabies in the Republic of Croatia – how successful have we been so far?
Radovan Vodopija
orcid.org/0000-0002-5645-8286
; Nastavni zavod za javno zdravstvo "Dr. Andrija Štampar", Zagreb, Hrvatska
Kruno Sokol
orcid.org/0000-0002-6457-5626
; Nastavni zavod za javno zdravstvo "Dr. Andrija Štampar", Zagreb, Hrvatska
Ivana Lohman Janković
; Ministarstvo poljoprivrede RH, Uprava za veterinarstvo i sigurnost hrane, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Ivica Sušec
; Ministarstvo poljoprivrede RH, Uprava za veterinarstvo i sigurnost hrane, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are only two successful measures which lead towards the elimination of the rabies virus in domestic animals and wildlife. The first is a mandatory vaccination of the dogs against rabies, which has been proven effective in eliminating human rabies cases in particular countries, and the second is the oral vaccination (ORV) of foxes against rabies, which is the best method for the eradication of the rabies virus in natural habitats, with exception of bats. In the Republic of Croatia, the mandatory vaccination of dogs against rabies was initiated in 1948, and only two years later urban rabies was successfully eradicated. More than 40 years (1991) have passed until the programme of the ORV of foxes against rabies was introduced. Within that period, considerable efforts have been made to hunt foxes (culling, poisoning or gassing in fox dens), with the goal to keep the population of foxes on the level of 4 per 1 km2 or below. The programme of ORVof foxes against rabies in the Republic of Croatia started for the first time in 1991, and it lasted until 1996, when it was discontinued due to lack of financial resources and the War in Croatia. For the second time, it started again in 1998, but it covered only the city of Zagreb and Zagreb County, and it was discontinued for the same reasons as before. For the third time, ORVprogramme started in 2010, when the autumn campaign of dropping baits was performed, while in 2011 two actions of dropping baits (spring and autumn) were performed on the entire area of the Republic of Croatia. The results of the oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program targeting foxes in the period 2010 – 2015 were outstanding: while there were 11.1% positive rabies isolates in domestic animals and wildlife in 2010, this number by 2015 was reduced to 0%. Therefore, the Office for Veterinary Affairs and Food Safety at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia plans to proclaim the Republic of Croatia a rabies-free country in the year 2018.
Keywords
Rabies; oral vaccination; foxes
Hrčak ID:
182346
URI
Publication date:
31.3.2016.
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