Rabies - epizootiological situation at the territory of Serbia and countries in the region from 2006. to 2012.

Rabies is a disease that occurs both in animals and people, with relatively long period of incubation, intense clinical course and fatal ending. Majority of cases of illnes and death in people are caused by the standard rabies virus. According to books of regulations on suppression and eradiction of rabies from 1988. and 2009., each suspected rabies has to be laboratory confirmed. From 2006. to 2012. within the passive surveilance, 3549 samples of brain tissue were examined for the presence of rabies virus. The virus was confirmed in 923 samples by using the method of direct imunofluorescence. From 2006. to 2012. there were diagnosed 192, 160, 233, 181, 104, 43 and 10 positive cases, respectively. For the purpose of rabies eradiction at the territory of the Republic of Serbia, a regional project of oral vaccination of foxes against rabies has been implemented since 2010.Within monitoring of the effectiveness of oral vaccination against rabies which was carried out at the end of 2011. and at the beginning of 2012., there were examined 1385 samples, out of which 11 reacted positively. The virus was dominantly present in the fox population. During 2008. and 2009., a relatively large number of rabid cats was registered, what indicates a transmission of rabies from the fox to the cat population. The incidence of rabies at the territory of Serbia significantly differs from one epizootic area to another. Northern parts of the country (Sombor and Subotica epizootic regions) have more favorable situation with only two cases of rabies for the last 7 years. In the period until 2010., in Pozarevac, Novi Sad, Jagodina, Pancevo, Belgrade and Nis epizootic region, a gradual decline in number of positive cases was noticed. International project for oral vaccination of foxes against rabies which has been implemented at the territory of the Republic of Serbia and neighboring countries, influenced a significant reduction of registered rabies cases. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR31084 i TR31088]