[Evolution of fox rabies in Belgium and the European Union]

Since 1989, after experimental trials, Belgium like other concerned member States within the European Union, organizes campaigns of fox vaccination against rabies. These vaccination campaigns are using a recombinant vaccinia-rabies virus as vaccine in Belgium, Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg and a large part of France. The results of epidemiological surveillance show a dramatic reduction of the incidence of rabies in the treated areas; this reduction is also observed in domestic animals and as a consequence, the number of post-exposure treatments in man is considerably reduced. After a period of elimination, rabies did reappear in the south of Belgium in 1994. Strains of rabies virus isolated in the infected area showed similar nucleic acid sequences both in Belgium and along the border in France. The situation of rabies in the continental part of the European Union permits to envisage its elimination in the short run. This elimination could provoke a modification in the quarantine regulations on pet importation in United Kingdom and, as a result, improve the movement of people within the entire European Union.