Development of harmonised schemes for monitoring and reporting of rabies in animals in the European Union

Abstract

Rabies is a notifiable disease in animals in the European Union. Despite the existence of several recommendations made by international organizations for rabies control, surveillance and monitoring of rabies in animals vary greatly between Member States. In this report recommendations are proposed for improving and harmonising rabies surveillance and reporting in animals in Europe. An adequate system of surveillance should be in place in all countries, whatever the rabies status (rabies-free and infected countries). Surveillance should be evenly distributed in time and space and should target animals suspected of having contracted the disease. All countries should report both positive and negative results of rabies diagnosis. For countries involved in oral rabies vaccination programmes (infected as well as rabies-free countries), the monitoring of rabies vaccination, based on investigating hunted animals from vaccinated areas, should be undertaken for assessing the efficacy of these programmes. The standardisation of diagnostic reference techniques and new confirmatory tests (such as Polymerase Chain Reaction) used in European Union is recommended. A national bat rabies surveillance network should be established in all European countries based on the testing of sick, rabies-suspect or dead bats of all bat species for lyssavirus infections. The Rabies Bulletin Europe is recommended as the basis for the reporting scheme of animal rabies in Europe with additional information to improve the existing data collection system and monitoring of rabies trends over time. Veterinary authorities should also report cases regularly to the OIE database interface.

Rabies in Europe: what are the risks?

“…However, rabies is a trans-boundary disease, and re-infections may occur. The recurrence of rabies in Italy (2008), Greece (2012) and Slovakia (2013) from bordering infected areas highlights the fragility of rabies-free country status and the need for continuous surveillance of the epidemiological situation, both in wildlife and in domestic animals [10]. In most infected countries, vaccination of pets is recommended or compulsory [11] as a preventive measure for animal and human health.…”

The field efficiency of oral rabies vaccination in the Lithuanian red fox population from 2006 to 2013

“…With strong efforts from Poland and other eastern European countries, the rabies-free zone has been expanded further to the east (Matouch et al 2007;Cliquet et al 2010). However, pockets of endemic wildlife rabies still remain in countries such as Russia, the Baltic States, and Belarus (Singer et al 2009).…”

Disease Risk Assessments Involving Companion Animals: an Overview for 15 Selected Pathogens Taking a European Perspective

“…Dogs represent the major rabies reservoir in developing countries. In Western Europe, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the (introduced) raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) are, or have been, the main reservoir hosts (Cliquet et al, 2010), although fox rabies has been recently eradicated from several west European countries. Domestic animals, primarily domestic dogs and cats, forge the link between infected wildlife and man (Rupprecht et al, 2000).…”