Epidemiology and Infection

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 134, Issue 02  


Wildlife rabies in Western Turkey: the spread of rabies through the western provinces of Turkey

N. JOHNSON a1c1, H. UN a2, A. VOS a3, O. AYLAN a2 and A. R. FOOKS a1
a1 Rabies Research and Diagnostic Group, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Characterisation of Rabies and Rabies-Related Viruses, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, Surrey, UK
a2 Etlik Central Veterinary Control and Research Institute, Etlik, Ankara, Turkey
a3 Impfstoffwerk Dessau Tornau GmbH, Rosslau, Germany

Article author query
johnson n   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
un h   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
vos a   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
aylan o   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
fooks ar   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

The incidence of rabies has decreased in Turkey during recent years. However, an increasing number of rabies cases have been reported in the Aegean (western) region of Turkey. The virus appears to have maintained a foothold in the urban areas of the province of Izmir with only three cases per year being reported during the mid-1990s. Since 2001, the virus has been recorded in the previously rabies-free provinces of Manisa and Aydin. During this epizootic, cases have been reported in both dogs and foxes, and there has been an unusually high incidence of rabies in domestic livestock, especially cattle. This report describes the development of this epizootic and a preliminary phylogenetic study which suggests that the source of this epizootic was likely to have been the residual cases within Izmir rather than a fresh introduction of rabies from foci to the north (Istanbul) and the Eastern provinces of Turkey.

(Published Online August 19 2005)
(Accepted May 15 2005)
(August 19 2005)


Correspondence:
c1 Rabies Research and Diagnostic Group, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Characterisation of Rabies and Rabies-Related Viruses, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, Woodham Lane, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK. (Email: n.johnson2@vla.defra.gsi.gov.uk)

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