Epidemiosureveillance of rabies in Belgium : 1995 assessment

peer reviewedIn Belgium, the level of rabies epidemiosurveillance has increased in 1995 : an average of 15 foxes/ 100 km2 were collected in the vaccination area and submitted to rabies diagnosis. During this year, rabies was confirmed in 135 foxes, 2 badgers and 76 domestic animals collected in southern Belgium (provinces of Luxemburg and Namur). As compared with the epidemiological situation observed in 1994, these cases demonstrated an increase of rabies incidence . Several campaigns of fox vaccination carried out in 1995 were not able to stop the spread of the disease. Results from both tetracycline (biomarker) and rabies antibodies detection tests showed that protection against rabies was not confered to a sufficient fraction of the fox population. Regarding the current epidemiological situation, strategies of vaccine-bait distribution need to be adapted to the higher density of fox population