Rabies in Poland in 2013 and 2014.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of the epidemiological situation of rabies in Poland in 2013 and 2014 in comparison to the previous years.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The evaluation was based on analysis of the data from individual report sent by the Epidemiological-Sanitary Stations. The data are from questionnaires of persons who were administered vaccine against rabies following exposure in Poland and beyond its territory, data from annual bulletin “Infectious diseases and poisonings in Poland in 2012-2014”(Czarkowski MP et al., Warsaw, NIH and CSI) and epizootic data provided by the General Veterinary Inspectorate.

RESULTS

Number of animal rabies cases reported in Poland in 2013 and in 2014 was 204 and 105, respectively. This was 30% and 60% less compared to 2012. In 2013 more than 59% of animal rabies cases occurred in Podkarpackie veivodeship and more than 28% in Malopolskie. In 2014 more than 77% of rabid animals were found in the Małopolskie veivodeship, but Podkarpackie accounted for less than 9%. Rabies in terrestrial animals in 2013-2014 was also found in Lubelskie, Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie veivodeships. In other regions of the country there were reported only single cases of rabies in bats. In 2013, a total of 7 317 people were vaccinated against rabies in 2013 and 7 679 in 2014 including 295 (4%) and 145 (1.9%) persons vaccinated due to exposure to the animals with confirmed rabies, respectively. Among those vaccinated after contact with rabid animal 26% and 29% were vaccinated after contact with a fox in 2013 and 2014, respectively and 64% and 57% as a result of exposure to the domestic animals with confirmed rabies. As with the previous years, people were vaccinated mostly due to exposure to dogs and cats, in which rabies could not be excluded - 5 725 people in 2013 (88%) and 6 057 (87%) in 2014.

CONCLUSIONS

After the increase in the number of animal rabies cases that occurred in 2012, in the next two years there has been a gradual decline in its number. In 2014 the number of animal rabies cases was lower than in the 2011 and in the 2010. Epizootic situation in the country has inadequate impact on the number of people vaccinated against rabies who had contact with an animal which potentially is a source of rabies virus. This number for many years is consistently stable, amounting to 7 000 vaccinated individuals per year.