RABIES AND ORAL IMMUNIZATION OF WILDLIFE IN THE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

Rabies situation and methods applied during the oral immunization of w ildlife and results obtained in the countries bordering Hungary have b een summarized and compared to the Hungarian method and data. Czech Re public. More than 90 000 samples were tested for rabies between 1984 a nd 1993. Oral immunization of wildlife was started in 1989. Thereafter the number of rabies cases decreased significantly. 95.6% of all the cases were observed in wildlife, 90,5% in foxes. Reduction of the numb er of foxes was unsuccessful in the control of rabies. At first, the T ubingen vaccine (Fuchsoral), later on the own developed (SAD-Bern) ''L ysvulpen'' bait vaccine was used for oral vaccination. The vaccine bai ts were distributed manually by hunters. Uptake of vaccine baits was 7 1.8%. For 1994, an area of 44 000 km(2) was planned to be vaccinated u sing 680 000 vaccine baits. Austria. Oral immunization was introduced in 1986, by 1991, the territories of the whole country were vaccinated . Owing to the good results obtained, the extent of the vaccinated are a has been diminished gradually since 1992. Romania. Classical methods of rabies control have been applied: hunting, gassing. 70 rabies case s were diagnosed in a year, on an average. Croatia. Oral immunization of wildlife started in 1991 in Istria, however the immunization was te mporarily suspended, because of the war. Slovak Republic. Between 1980 and 1993, 23 068 wildlife and domestic animals were examined for rabi es. Of them, 15.7% proved to be positive. During the past 14 years, 78 .9% of all the cases were diagnosed in foxes. Reduction of the number of foxes proved to be unsuccessful also in that country. Between 1992 and 1993, 232 600 vaccine baits were distributed manually. For the ora l immunization the home developed ''Kamark'' bait vaccine (prepared fr om the Vnukovo-32-107 strain of rabies virus) was used. The vaccine vi rus proved to be apathogenic for foxes. The vaccine bait uptake based on the demonstration of tetracycline marker was 74.9%. Slovenia. Oral immunization have been used since 1988. The immunization was suspended in 1992 that resulted in the increase of rabies cases. During the fou rth quarter of 1993 as many cases were diagnosed as in the whole year 1992. The oral vaccination was started again in the spring of 1994. Be sides the manual distribution, aerial distribution by helicopters were also used. Besides oral immunization, reduction of the number of foxe s was also applied.