Rabies - Bulletin - Europe

Rabies Information System of the WHO

Germany reports imported rabid dog

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Rabies has been confirmed in an illegally imported dog from the municipality of Verden located in Lower Saxony recently. The owner stated that the dog was adopted during vacation in Turkey on 2 September 2021. Eight days later the heavily emaciated unvaccinated Kangal-mixed breed was presented to a private veterinarian after it developed unspecific clinical signs. The dog died during the medical investigation and was submitted to the regional veterinary laboratory for necropsy where rabies infection was confirmed both by DFA and RT-qPCR. Sequencing of the rabies virus isolate revealed a 99.5% sequence identity with a RABV isolate from a Turkish fox from 2001. While tracing did not reveal any evidence for further secondary transmissions, all contact persons received PEP.

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