[Rabies: epidemiology, pre- and postexposure immunization]

In the mid-nineties rabies was eliminated from Austria by mass vaccination of foxes. This has eventually led to a decrease in knowledge about epidemiology, prophylaxis and post-exposure treatment of this deadly disease. In addition, there has been considerable scientific progress in the field of rabies vaccination during the last decade. International travel led to more then twice the amount of people from Austria travelling to rabies endemic countries than ten years ago. Frequent travelling to the new EU member states, amongst them rabies endemic countries, further increased the risk of being exposed to this disease. Formerly mainly emergency units in hospitals had to deal with post-exposure rabies prophylaxis. Now that mostly travellers are exposed, any family physician or travel medicine specialist should be able to provide adequate information and treatment. It seems therefore necessary to refresh actual recommendations and guidelines for rabies vaccination, epidemiology and pos-texposure treatment in order to facilitate the management of suspect cases by physicians in Austria.