[The final stage of rabies in Switzerland]

Since summer 1989, rabies in Switzerland has been restricted to the Jura Mountains in the north-west of the country. Even there, the last endemic focus disappeared in 1990, but a re-infection in the same year caused a new flare-up of the epizootic. Until 1994, the number of rabies cases increased again to 225. Control measures were intensified with doubled vaccination campaigns, increased bait densities, and additional vaccination campaigns to immunize young foxes at the den. As a consequence, the number of cases dropped to 25 in 1995 and to 6 in 1996. On December 21, 1996, the last endemic case of rabies in Switzerland was registered. After two years of continuing vaccination campaigns and surveillance, Switzerland became officially rabies-free at the beginning of 1999. In the present paper, we analyse the final stage of the epizootic. The re-infection in 1990 was caused by infected foxes immigrating from France, but as the immunization of the fox population in Switzerland was insufficient, the disease became again endemic immediately. The lacking herd immunity was partly a consequence of problems related to the vaccination system and even more of the rapid increase of the fox population.