Odesa region is among the five regions with the highest number of rabies cases

Odesa region is one of the five regions with the highest number of rabies cases among animals, and their number is growing every year.

This was reported by the Odesa Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the Center, during a meeting of the Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies, 109 laboratory-confirmed cases of rabies were registered in the region in 10 months of 2024.

Also, according to the monitoring data for 10 months of this year, sporadic cases of diseases such as leptospirosis (three cases), Lyme disease (39 cases) and echinococcosis (15 cases) have been registered in the region.

According to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, from November 4 to 21, 2024, oral immunization of wild carnivores against rabies was carried out in seven districts of Odesa region by scattering vaccine baits. Veterinarians from the state district and district hospitals of the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Odesa Oblast, representatives of local governments, hunting and forestry enterprises took an active part in the immunization campaign. A total of 2,992 people were involved in 408 teams.

During the oral immunization campaign, 616,859 doses of the vaccine were distributed in the designated and agreed upon areas of Odesa Oblast, which covers a total of 24,674.4 square kilometers.

In July, the State Emergency Anti-Epizootic Commission at the Izmail District State (Military) Administration of Odesa Oblast introduced quarantine in part of the city of Izmail due to a rabies outbreak.

In April, the Odesa Regional State (Military) Administration issued an order to form groups of hunters to shoot predators. This was justified by the fact that rabies cases had become more frequent in the region. At the same time, the management of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park doubts the data provided by the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and considers it manipulative.

Meanwhile, last year, veterinarians from state district and district hospitals of the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Odesa Oblast, hunters and local government representatives distributed 228,481 doses of the vaccine in all seven districts of the region.

Кирило Бойко