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Use of an Area Index to Retrospectively Analyze the Elimination of Fox Rabies in European Countries

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ABSTRACT

Oral vaccination of foxes (OVF) is a powerful tool to combat rabies in wildlife, and large parts of western Europe have been freed from rabies using this tool. Nevertheless, the success of OVF, given with the number of campaigns needed to eliminate the disease, depends on many factors. This article for the first time focuses on and assesses difference in OVF with respect to the spatial setting of vaccinated areas with time. The size of the areas vaccinated with time and the size of the overlapping area of consecutively vaccinated areas are particularly considered. In order to integrate these two aspects into one single figure, an Area Index is proposed ranging between 0 and 1. A statistical analysis indicates that the number of campaigns needed for rabies elimination significantly decreases on condition that the total rabies endemic area is consecutively treated right from the beginning of oral vaccination. Hence, from an economical and environmental point of view, vaccination areas should be selected the way that guarantees an Area Index close to 1. The concept of an Area Index, as described here, is a useful tool not only in the context of OVF, but it could also be used for other control schemes against infectious diseases in wildlife.

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Acknowledgments

This project was part of the European FAIR project CT 97-3515 entitled “Wildlife vaccination against rabies in difficult and emergency situations and its potential impact on the environment,” which was funded by the European Commission. We further acknowledge the skilful technical assistance of Anke Kliemt. We are also grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions of Michel Aubert and Dennis Slate for improving this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal Research Center for Virus Diseases of AnimalsInstitute of Epidemiology, WHO College Center for Rabies Surveillance and Research, Seestrasse 55, 16868, Germany

    Thomas Selhorst, Thomas Müller, Heinzpeter Schwermer, Mario Ziller & Hartmut Schlüter

  2. Swiss Rabies CenterInstitute of Veterinary Virology, University of Berne, Laenggass-Strasse 122, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Urs Breitenmoser & Uli Müller

  3. Laboraoire d’immunologie-vaccinologieFaculté de Médecine véterinaire, Université de Liège, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Bernard Brochier & Paul-Pierre Pastoret

  4. Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venice, Franco Multinelli, Legnaro (PD), 35020, Italy

    Franco Mutinelli

Authors
  1. Thomas Selhorst
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  2. Thomas Müller
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  3. Heinzpeter Schwermer
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  4. Mario Ziller
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  5. Hartmut Schlüter
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  6. Urs Breitenmoser
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  7. Uli Müller
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  8. Bernard Brochier
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  9. Paul-Pierre Pastoret
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  10. Franco Mutinelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Selhorst.

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Selhorst, T., Müller, T., Schwermer, H. et al. Use of an Area Index to Retrospectively Analyze the Elimination of Fox Rabies in European Countries. Environmental Management 35, 292–302 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-3055-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-3055-x

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