Rabies in Foxes, Aegean Region, Turkey | CDC EID

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Volume 15, Number 10–October 2009
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Rabies in Foxes, Aegean Region, Turkey
Ad Vos, Conrad Freuling, Seza Eskiizmirliler, Hikmet Ün, Orhan Aylan, Nicholas Johnson, Semra Gürbüz, Winfried Müller, Necdet Akkoca, Thomas Müller, Anthony R. Fooks, and Haluk Askaroglu
Author affiliations: IDT Biologika GmbH, Dessau-Rosslau, Germany (A. Vos); Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Wusterhausen, Germany (C. Freuling, T. Müller); Bornova Veterinary Control and Research Institute, Izmir, Turkey (S. Eskiizmirliler, N. Akkoca); Etlik Central Veterinary Control and Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey (H. Ün, O. Aylan); Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, UK (N. Johnson, A.R. Fooks); Technical Assistance for Control of Rabies Disease, Ankara (S. Gürbüz, W. Müller); and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ankara (H. Askaroglu)

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Abstract
At the end of the 1990s in the Aegean region of Turkey, rabies rapidly spread among foxes. This spread likely resulted from spillover infection from dogs and led to increased rabies cases among cattle. To control this outbreak, oral rabies vaccination of foxes has been used.

In Turkey, dog-mediated (spread by dogs as host species) rabies dominates the epidemiology of rabies (1). During 1990–2000, a total of 2,856 rabies cases were reported from Turkey; dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) accounted for 78% of reported cases, whereas wildlife accounted for only 1.6% (data from 44 issues of Rabies Bulletin Europe, available from www.who-rabies-bulletin.org). In the past decade (1998–2007), however, an increasing number of rabies cases in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) have been reported from the Aegean region in western Turkey. Rabies in foxes has been reported incidentally from other regions in Turkey, especially from the central and eastern parts. Rabies cases in foxes have been considered to be rare, dead-end, spillover events from rabid dogs and to have no epidemiologic significance. However, surveillance data from most of these regions are limited; therefore, whether rabies in wildlife occurs independently from rabies in dogs is unknown. Sufficient data are available for the Aegean region, and phylogenetic studies have concluded that rabies recently spilled over from domestic dogs to foxes in this area (2).

The Aegean region is characterized by mountain ranges, except for the coastal plains, where most of the human population is concentrated and where ≈3.5 million persons live in Turkey's third largest city, Izmir. This economic and industrial center lies in a predominantly agricultural area. Before 1999, rabies in the Aegean region was predominantly mediated by dogs, and no clear movement from an urban focus was noted. Most cases were observed in and around the city of Izmir. The number of rabies cases had decreased notably in the Aegean region, from 137 cases in 1988 to only 2 cases in 1995, after which the number started to increase again (1).

Figure 1 (please, see the full text)

Figure 1. A) Map of Turkey showing location of Aegean region (box)...


Figure 2 (please, see the full text)

Figure 2. Location of rabies cases in the 3 most affected species in Aegean region by year, 1998–2007...

To determine more about the epidemiology of this disease, we analyzed the spatial and temporal incidence of rabies in 8 provinces of the Aegean region (Figure 1) during 1998–2007. We emphasized the shift from dog-mediated to fox-mediated rabies and the consequences to the disease profile in this area...


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