In this essay rabies is the focus of our investigation. The incidence in humans, however, dropped to nil following control programs that affected the ecology of the animal hosts and their pathogens. Nevertheless as mentioned above the risk never disappeared. In this essay we explore the trends of rabies within the animal population throughout the last few decades using data from the Israeli Veterinary Services, and the risk of rabies to humans, using data on post-exposure treatment from the Israeli Ministry of Health. We identify the ecological changes that affected the distribution and abundance of the various rabies reservoirs, leading to the recent reemergence of the disease in the region, and discuss the policies that led to these changes.
Human data used in our study includes information on date, species and location of biting animal.
Animal data includes information on animal species starting from 1930 and their geographic distribution in the 80s and 90s. The data is based on results of examination of animals suspected of being rabid which were brought to a central laboratory for this purpose. The main source for the diagnosis of rabies was the Israeli Veterinary Laboratory which is the main reference laboratory in the country. Information about control activities was obtained from the monthly reports of the Veterinary Department. We use descriptive methodology and no attempt is made to use summary statistics.