title: [The risk of rabies in France and the illegal importation of animals from rabid endemic countries].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since October 2001, France has the status of a country free from rabies regarding warm-blooded animals. Nevertheless, the risk of rabies is ever present and related to the illegal importation of animals from countries in which rabies is considered to be endemic.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2001, a puppy imported illegally from Morocco died from rabies in Gironde, requiring the prophylactic treatment of 21 persons exposed and the euthanasia of a contact animal, as well as the application of legal measures against the couple at the origin of the importation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Illegal importations of animal from areas of rabid enzootics are frequent. It is important to inform all the tourists who visit these countries on the sanitary risks involved, in terms of human and animal health, in bringing such animals back to their own country.
authors.affiliation: Fédération de maladies infectieuses, Hôpital Pellegrin, Bordeaux. t.galperine@rpc-ap-hop-paris.fr
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Galpérine
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neau
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Moiton
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rotivel
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ragnaud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D003132:Commerce / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004285:Dogs; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D011640:Public Policy; D011818:Rabies / Q000635:transmission*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012499:Sanitation; D014195:Travel