History of Rabies Incidence and Rabies Control in Serbia in Support of the Zero by 2030 Campaign to Eliminate Dog-Mediated Human Rabies

Abstract

Urban (principally canine-mediated) rabies has been a public health risk for people living in Serbia for centuries. The first legal act in urban rabies prevention in Serbia was established in 1834 by introducing high taxes for pet dog owners. Five years later in 1839, the first set of literature describing rabies prevention was issued by the health department from The Serbian Ministry of Interior. An overview of cauterization of rabies wounds was presented as the principal method of rabies post exposure prophylaxis. In 1890, a human rabies vaccination was introduced in Serbia with the royal government directive which ordered patients to be treated at the Pasteur Institute in Budapest in receipt of rabies vaccination. Urban (canine) rabies was eliminated during the 1980s, but sylvatic (principally fox-mediated) rabies still prevailed. The last human rabies case was recorded in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija in 1980. Sylvatic rabies in Serbia is in the final stages of elimination by orally vaccinating foxes (Vulpes vulpes). The only published finding of a lyssavirus among Serbian bats was made in 1954 by Dr Milan Nikolić in the vicinity of Novi Sad. In 2006, a comprehensive two-year active surveillance program of lyssaviruses in bats in Serbia was undertaken. In this single study, all of the bats from Serbia tested negative for a lyssavirus.

Managing Rabies Cases with a One Health Approach in Various Countries: Literature Review

“…Raccoon dogs and red foxes accounted for 70-80% of all positive instances that were discovered (about 35% of foxes and 48% of raccoon dogs in Estonia, 40% of foxes and 30% of raccoon dogs in Latvia, and 31% of foxes and 40% of raccoon dogs in Lithuania) (14). Almost the same as Serbia and Slovenia, enzootic fox rabies still exists on the territory of Serbia (an average of 192 laboratory-confirmed rabies cases annually in [2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006], between 1973 and 2013, red foxes served as the primary reservoir for the rabies virus that caused sylvatic rabies, which occasionally spread to domestic animals (15,16). Moreover, 113 occurrences of rabies in dogs of which 18 were stray dogs and two cases each in cats and horses were documented in Spain between 1978 and 2020, according to rabies surveillance statistics.…”

“…The creation of ORV demonstrates the effectiveness of oral rabies vaccination for Serbian wildlife, which was marked by a rise in the use of vaccine baits and an increase in the vaccine's immunological response. Consequently, until 2018, there were fewer cases of rabies reported (16,18). In addition to regular monitoring for rabies in land animals, the Directorate of Veterinary Medicine of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia began conducting rabies examinations in bats in 2006.…”

Zoonotic Animal Influenza Virus and Potential Mixing Vessel Hosts

“…Foxes are known to feed frequently on dead birds and to prey on small animals and poultry. They play an important role in the transmission of some viral and parasitic diseases to humans [357,358]. There is therefore a risk of direct transmission of IAV from foxes to humans.…”