Recurrence of Animal Rabies, Greece, 2012

Konstantia E Tasioudi,Peristera Iliadou,Emmanuelle Robardet,Emmanouil Liandris,Mirsini Tzani,Spiridon Doudounakis,Paraskevi Tsaroucha,Florence Cliquet,Olga Mangana-Vougiouka,Evelyne Picard-Meyer,Eirini I Agianniotaki

doi:10.3201/eid2002.130473

Abstract

Recurrence of Animal Rabies, Greece, 2012

Highlights

To the Editor: Rabies is caused by 12 recognized virus species within the Lyssavirus genus [1] and each year causes 55,000 deaths worldwide among humans
During 1971–1987, a total of 248 cases were recorded in domestic animals, of which only 6 occurred during 1981–1987 [3]
After the fox rabies case reported in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in 2011, ≈0.3 km from Greece [4], rabies surveillance was improved along the northern and eastern land borders of Greece, and wild and domestic animals found dead or suspected of having rabies were collected

Summary

Introduction

To the Editor: Rabies is caused by 12 recognized virus species within the Lyssavirus genus (family Rhabdoviridae) [1] and each year causes 55,000 deaths worldwide among humans. Until 2012, Greece had been free of rabies since 1987; the last case occurred in a dog. Greece shares land borders with Turkey, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and Bulgaria, where rabies is reported in wild and domestic animals After the fox rabies case reported in FYROM in 2011, ≈0.3 km from Greece [4], rabies surveillance was improved along the northern and eastern land borders of Greece, and wild and domestic animals found dead or suspected of having rabies were collected.

Results

Conclusion