04/06/2015
Because the vast majority of users has accessed the rabies database via online queries it has been decided to change the output of the Rabies Bulletin Europe. From 3/2013 the tables and maps will be compiled as PDF but will not be available as printed version. The database will remain the pivotal tool for rabies surveillance data in Europe. We are currently negotiating the future scope and layout of the Bulletin.

28/06/2013
The last issue for 2012 is now available:. Besides data in tables and maps, the miscellaneous article highlights the successful project to control rabies on the Philippine island of Bohol. The project continues to serve as a model for “One Health” and was achieved through the joint efforts of local and national government of the Philippines, contributions from donors, and the dedicated efforts of experts from the sectors of public health, education, animal health and agriculture, environment, legislation, and non-government partners.

27/02/2013
The 3^rd issue of the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe for 2012 is available. The reported rabies cases are presented in tables and a map. The first miscellaneous article is a case report on an imported human rabies case in Switzerland. The U.S. citizen died after being hospitalized and sequence analysis of the rabies virus revealed an association to insectivorous bats in the Americas. The second article by Dr. Meslin gives an overview of the topics discussed at the World Health Organization (WHO) International Expert Consultation on rabies held at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 18–20 September 2012.. Countries endemic for canine rabies were urged to initiate and strengthen their rabies prevention and control activities, and to increase the level of awareness about the disease, particularly among children.

06/12/2012
The latest issue of the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe is available. The reported rabies cases of the 2nd quarter 2012 are presented in tables. Interestingly, among the 9 bat rabies cases reported is a second case of Bokeloh Bat Lyssavirus (BBLV), this time detected in a Natterer’s bat in France. Also, in Spain a Miniopterus schreibersii bat tested positive and preliminary results by the team of Juan Echevarria suggest that this virus represents yet another novel lyssavirus named Lleida bat lyssavirus (LLBLV). The scientific paper(s) on this novel virus will be much appreciated.

The first miscellaneous article provides first-hand information on the rabies situation in Jordan. The report was prepared following a workshop on rabies prevention and control in Amman funded by the European Union.  Those who wanted to make use of the sequences available on NCBI sequence database may have experienced problems as often several sequence entries for an individual virus exist, caused by duplication of data by different submitting laboratories and limited or absent submission details, resulting in extensive searches of the literature to collate the relevant data. The second article introduces a newly developed, easily searchable, on-line sequence database for lyssaviruses, which combines all necessary information on the virus, the sequence and further laboratory information.

14/09/2012
In the latest issue (2012/I) the first miscellaneous article by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control covers the World Rabies Day initiative that was started in 2007 and that saw events in 74 countries, reaching 54.3 million people worldwide.

The second article is an obituary for Jim Cox, a former staff member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Rabies Surveillance and Research who passed away early this year.  

As usual, the rabies surveillance data is presented in tables and a map.

15/06/2012
The last issue for 2011 has been published the printed version will be delivered in due time.
The miscellaneous article covers information on the surveillance efforts in Greece. Greece that had the last indigenous rabies case in 1987 started an increased surveillance along the border with Bulgaria and FYROM. In the latter country rabies in foxes emerged recently.
The second article is a summary on the latest virus discoveries that indicated a higher diversity of the lyssavirus genus. With Shimoni bat virus (SHIBV) and Ikoma virus (IKOV) two new African lyssaviruses were discovered, the isolation of the Bokeloh bat lyssavirus in a Natterers bat from Germany indicates, that lyssaviruses may be circulating unrecognized in areas with a seemingly intensive surveillance as in Central Europe.
As usual, the rabies surveillance data is presented in tables and a map. Also, the area covered by oral rabies vaccination in Europe is provided.

22/03/2012
The pdf-archive of the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe was completed by adding the maps (Rabies cases in Europe) to the respective issues.  The technical support by Mandy Naß, Viola Damrau and Anke Kliemt is gratefully acknowledged.

25/01/2012
The content of the website was updated. Please note the changes in the requirements for pet travel in Europe. From January 1st 2012 transitional measures in the Pet Regulation that had allowed certain Member States to continue the application of national rules in regards to the decision (EC) 998/2003 have expired. Also, the list of EU-approved laboratories for the serological tests was updated.

24/01/2012
The archive of the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe was completed. Now, all published issues starting from 1977 are available as PDF.

20/12/2011
The latest issue of the RBE (II/2010) has been published. As usual, we present the rabies surveillance data in tables and a map. For the first time in recent decades rabies cases were detected in Macedonia. Presumably the cases were noticed as a result of the increased surveillance and awareness activities as part of the EU-funded oral rabies vaccination programme in Macedonia. A multi-national meeting on this issue will be held at the end of 2011.

The first miscellaneous article covers a tragic death of a young girl from Romania following the bite of a rabid cat. Sadly, PEP was not administered and the girl was hospitalized after the first signs of the disease. In the doctors’ desperate fight against the inevitable the “Milwaukee protocol” was used, however without success.

The second article is provided by the colleagues from the ANSES, Nancy which was designated as European Union Reference Laboratory for Rabies in 2008. This article reviews data on rabies diagnoses and follow-up investigations of oral rabies vaccination performed in NRLs in the European Union in 2010.

07/09/2011
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (I/2011) available. The first miscellaneous article covers the European Union (EU) strategy for external cooperation with neighbouring countries in respect to oral rabies vaccination. The success story of rabies control in Europe using oral rabies vaccination would not have been told if the EU hadn’t financially supported this project. The second article provides information on bat rabies surveillance in Finland. Recently, EBLV-2 was also isolated from a Daubenton’s bat in the south of Finland. As usual, you will find the rabies surveillance data kindly submitted by our contributors in tables and a map.

11/05/2011
The Immunological Basis for Immunization Series Module 17: Rabies has been published by WHO. The series crated in 1993  initially focused on the vaccines included in the Expanded Programme on Immunization. Later with the development of the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy and the expansion of immunization programmes in general the decision was taken to update and extend this series.The main purpose of the modules - which are published as separate disease/vaccine specific modules - is to give immunization managers and vaccination professionals a brief and easily-understood overview of the scientific basis of vaccination, and also of the immunological basis for the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on vaccine use (see latest WHO position paper on rabies vaccines - WER august 2010). Dr D. Briggs (Alliance for Rabies Control9 accepted to write this up for WHO and Dr Philippe Duclos and his colleagues FCH/IVB in WHO) included rabies in the list of diseases to be considered by the immunological basis for immunization series.http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501088_eng.pdf

10/05/2011
The last issue for 2010 has been published. As usual, we present the rabies surveillance data summarized for 2010 as well as the details for the last quarter of 2010. A map showing the area covered by ORV campaigns in Europe in 2010 is included. In this issue we provide a miscellaneous article upsurge of rabies in the Malopolskie voivodship and a second article summarizes the 3rd European workshop for rabies by the EU-RL at ANSES, Nancy.

24/02/2011
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (III/2010) available. The first miscellaneous article covers the Swiss bat rabies surveillance results. The second article by Tiziana Lembo and the Partners for Rabies Prevention is about the development of a “Blueprint for Rabies Prevention and Control”. It brings together all the necessary components for an integrated approach to eliminate canine rabies. As usual, all rabies data is presented in tables and a map.

14/12/2010
Belated distribution of WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe (printed version)

Dear addressees of the RBE,
You may have realized that the two latest issues of the printed version have not been distributed despite being already published as pdf on the website. Please accept our apologies for this delay, but there are problems associated with the print company. We are confident that we can solve this matter and that the printed version will be out soon.

Best Seasonal Greetings

Yours sincerely,

Conrad Freuling

04/11/2010
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (II/2010) available. The miscellaneous articles cover an imported rabies case in Germany and a summary of the report “Development of harmonised schemes for monitoring and reporting of rabies in animals in the European Union” as a result of an EFSA call. As usual, the rabies situation is demonstrated in tables and a map.

02/09/2010
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (I/2010) available. The first miscellaneous article covers monkey bites in southern France. The increasing monkey-human interactions are potentially dangerous as they promote zoonosis transmission like rabies. In this issue we also provide a miscellaneous article covering a travel related human case in Northern Ireland. The results of the diagnostics applied suggest that there is a narrow window for ante-mortem diagnosis of disease based on detection of virus in accessible samples such as saliva, CSF, and skin biopsy.

11/02/2010
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (III/2009) available.

02/11/2009
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (II/2009) available. In this issue we provide a miscellaneous article covering an illegally imported dog that was confirmed rabid in Germany. The second article was provided by Albanian colleagues describing their surveillance efforts to detect rabies in wildlife in Albania. Also, all rabies cases reported to the WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe are displayed in tables and a map.

25/08/2009
The latest issue of the Rabies Bulletin Europe has been published. Three miscellaneous articles cover different topics related to rabies. The first is a joint article by the Italian and Slovenian rabies experts outlining the recent developments of sylvatic rabies in both countries and the respective control measures. Also, in the context of oral vaccination of foxes we took the liberty of addressing problems in public tenders for baits in EU-funded ORV campaigns that may threaten the overall success of rabies control in Europe. Last, we are honoured to provide two articles on the life and successes of Dr. George Martin Baer, one of the foremost international rabies experts who died on June 2, 2009, in Mexico City, Mexico.

30/04/2009
The last issue for 2008 has been published –the printed version will be delivered in due time. A map of oral vaccination campaign areas in 2008 is included. All countries with OIF programmes are asked to send data on their vaccination areas on a regular basis.
The miscellaneous article covers information on two rabies cases in cats in France associated with EBLV-1 infections.

23/02/2009
Rabies Bulletin Europe – new issue (III/2008) available.

10/12/2008
The 2^nd issue of 2008 has been published online and the printed version will be delivered in due time. The first miscellaneous article is provided by the colleagues from the AFFSA, Nancy, France designated as Community Reference Laboratory for Rabies on July 28th 2008. This article states the terms of references of this new reference lab for the European Union. The second article is a report about an unusual incubation period in a Daubenton’s bat tested EBLV-2 positive in the United Kingdom.  

In the meantime during the production of this issue, rabies cases in foxes were found in previously rabies free areas in the north-east of Italy and also in areas beyond the vaccination belt in Slovenia bordering Italy. A first report was published in Eurosurveillance (http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19033)

Both countries intend to start oral vaccination in the affected areas. We will give updates on this development in upcoming issues.

11/09/2008
Updating the Rabies Bulletin Europe homepage

Thanks to our dedicated technical staff Detlef Klöß the website has been updated and enlarged. The most obvious change is the logo of the World Rabies Day on our navigation sidebar. We also included a separate World Rabies Day section in our navigation to support spreading the information of this valuable initiative.
The maps produced have sometimes raised questions on accuracy and data source. Now, we provide background information for our mapping system before displaying maps. An additional article “Thirty years of WHO Rabies Bulletin Europe - a reflection” by Dr. Meslin, WHO, has been added to the archive to represent the history of this journal.
For more detailed information on Rabies in Europe, various publications of WHO and/or OIE are presented in a new section.
In the general information section of Bats and Rabies a download link to our bat rabies leaflet has been added. Furthermore, a column video has been added: It shows behavioural observations in some rabid bats and was kindly provided by Zomer Bruijn, Amersfoort, Netherlands. It was initially published in RBE 03/2004.

05/09/2008
After more than 30 years of “traditional” RBE starting with the latest RBE 01/2008 we decided to change the size of this bulletin to a journal style. Due to these efforts the production of the latest issue was delayed. This step is ment to increase the print quality of the journal, to improve the convenience for the readers and as a contribution to WHO’s cooperate identity. We hope to meet your expectations in this way. Otherwise, the content remains unchanged. The printed version will be delivered in due time.

30/05/2008
The last issue for 2007 has been published –The printed version will be delivered in due time. A map of oral vaccination campaign areas in 2007 is included. All countries with OIF programmes are asked to send data on their vaccination areas.
The first miscellaneous article from Eurosurveillance covers a human rabies case in The Netherlands. The second miscellaneous article is a short summary of the rabies surveillance data submitted to the WHO CC Wusterhausen. We would like to take this opportunity to thank those that send the data and to encourage other countries also submit rabies surveillance data.

28/02/2008
The latest issue for the 3^rd quarter 2007 has been published. The printed version will be delivered in due time. The 3 miscellaneous articles cover the first confirmed EBLV-2 case in a Daubenton’s bat in Germany, WHO’s position paper on vaccines and a report on the success of the first world rabies day in 2007.

04/12/2007
Finally, the 2nd RBE for the year 2007 has been published. Besides rabies data, miscellaneous articles cover the EUROBATS agreement and the Belarusian rabies post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after severe wolf bites. Anke Kliemt, our technical staff member, has transferred rabies data as far back as 1995 into the online-database and is now available for data queries.

03/09/2007
The 1st Issue of the RBE for the year 2007 has been published. Please note that for technical reasons one rabies case from Hungary was not included in the printed version. The style of our mapping has changed. In the PDF version available in the archive, both styles are included.

Thanks to our committed staff member Anke Kliemt, rabies data was transferred into the online-database as far back as 1997 and is now available for data queries.

Erratum: The OIF area of Estonia in 2006 covered the entire country. The map was changed accordingly.

06/06/2007
The last issue for 2006 has been published - a little late, but we tried to include as much data as possible. The printed version will be delivered in due time. We included a map of oral vaccination campaign areas in 2006. This map is also published online in a new section within data base queries. We want to publish this kind of information on an annual basis and we also intend to enlarge this part retrospectively. All countries with OIF programmes are asked to send data on their vaccination areas.

20/02/2007
Issue III/2006 has been published on February 19^th, 2007. The printed version will be delivered in due time. From this quarter, Serbia and Montenegro as separate countries have individual data sets. Prior data are based on reporting from Serbia and Montenegro (SCG). Please keep this in mind when searching the database retrospectively.

01/12/2006
The RABIES BULLETIN EUROPE II/2006 was issued both printed as well as online on Friday, 1^st of December.
 
Current data for rabies in Europe are presented in tables and a map. The miscellaneous article covers the epidemiology of rabies in Romania, a country with a high number of rabies cases in the past. Romania’s control and eradication plans are outlined in this article.

06/07/2006
The new web version of the RABIES BULLETIN EUROPE was released on Friday, 1st of July.  

To ensure continuous online-publishing and service two web versions of the RBE will be published for a transitional period of time. The user can either use the URL http://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org and follow the link to the new version or go directly to http://www.rbe.fli.bund.de. The RBE II/2006 will then be published only as new version but on the usual URL http://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org.

As a reliable source of information about rabies in Europe hard copies of the RBE will be available on request.