Rabies in Poland in 2010-2019: A new virus reservoir

Abstract

The paper presents the epizootic situation of rabies in Poland during the last decade. During this period, the annual oral immunisation of free-living foxes was continued, but in recent years it has only covered selected regions. This was due to the decreasing number of virus cases found in free-living foxes, confirmed by 2019, when the virus was found in only one fox in the Lublin Province. The results indicate that despite high costs, oral fox immunisation (ORV) treatments have had the desired effect by eliminating rabies in terrestrial mammals. At the same time, an increasing tendency for virus occurrence in bats was noted during this period. These animals have now become the primary reservoir of the virus in Poland. In addition, in 2019 rabies in bats was found in voivodeships that were considered virus-free, and thus no preventive vaccination of foxes was carried out in them. This confirms the thesis that there are no geographical barriers to the spread of the virus. These elements are quite relevant and are very important in the field of epizootic threat as well as public health.