Rehovot launching rabies vaccination campaign

"These steps are being taken as standard preventive measures for the good of our city's public health."

By NOGA MARTIN (TRANSLATED)
The Rehovot Municipality's veterinary department and the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority are launching a joint effort to distribute oral rabies vaccinations in the open areas surrounding the city. "There hasn't been any case of rabies reported in our area. These steps are being taken as standard preventive measures for the good of our city's public health," www.local.co.il quoted city veterinarian Dr. Zvi Zarfati as saying. The oral vaccination consists of matchbox-sized "bait" that contains the anti-rabies dose. The bait can withstand inclement weather and remain outside for long periods of time, allowing jackals and foxes that find it to chew it up and swallow the vaccination. "Rabies is an incurable disease that leads to certain death," Zarfati said. "All dogs must be vaccinated against the disease once a year, so the main risk for an outbreak lies with the wild animal population (jackals and foxes) found around the city." Zarfati said that oral rabies vaccinations of wild animals began in Israel in 2000 after the method caught on in Europe and North America. The veterinarian said that oral vaccinations had proved highly effective in preventing rabies among wild animals, with the incidence of rabies declining to zero in areas in which it had been employed.