Qualitative Risk Assessment on Risk of Recurrence of Rabies in Austria
| Main Author: | Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) |
|---|---|
| Format: | Report |
| Bahasa: | deu |
| Terbitan: |
, 2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/2612824 |
Daftar Isi:
- In Austria, the last case of rabies was officially confirmed in 2006 when a vaccination virus was detected in a fox. The last human case occurred in 2004. The infection, however, happened in Morocco. The results of the active and passive surveillance provided no evidence of virus circulation within domestic or wild animals from 2007 onwards. Therefore, Austria was officially declared free from rabies with effect of 28 September 2008. Preventive oral immunization, which had been conducted since the 1990ies, was further carried out until the end of 2012. The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety was instructed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health to carry out a risk assessment addressing the risk of re-occurrence of rabies, resp. the risk of introduction of rabies into the Austrian (wild) animal population. As the task explicitly concerns the risk of introduction, the document at hand strongly focusses on the release assessment. The release assessment covers the following causes for the re-occurrence of rabies in the Austrian animal population: 1) introduction of the virus via infected wildlife (mainly foxes) migrating from neighboring regions, 2) a possibly undetected persistence of the virus in the (wild) animal population, 3) legal or illegal imports of (domestic) animals, 4) entry of persons, having contracted rabies abroad. The release risk regarding the routes of entry listed above was estimated to be low. While the risk of introduction of rabies is estimated to be low, the risk of exposure is considered to be medium. This is mainly due to the currently low rate of immunization within the native fox population. Hence, the probability of infection is high, should infected wild animals migrate into Austria. In the consequence assessment, the effects of a rabies outbreak are estimated to be high, as the disease would spread rapidly within the immunologically native fox population in the absence of appropriate control measures.
- AT;de;pdf;efsafocalpoint@ages.at