title: Evidence for trans-border movement of rabies by wildlife reservoirs between countries in the Balkan Peninsular.
abstract: Rabies remains endemic in a number of reservoir species throughout southeast Europe. To investigate the relationship between rabies viruses within this region we have compared rabies virus nucleoprotein sequence data from a diverse panel of rabies samples from Bulgaria with available data from countries in the Balkan Peninsula. This analysis provides a first description of rabies isolates in Bulgaria and suggests that there is evidence for wildlife-mediated movement of rabies with countries to the west of Bulgaria including Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina but no evidence for a link with rabies foci in Turkey. We speculate that natural barriers such as the Balkan mountains may play a significant role in constraining the southerly spread of rabies in southeast Europe.
authors.affiliation: Rabies and Wildlife Zoonoses Group, Veterinary Laboratories Agency-Weybridge, Woodham Lane, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK. n.jonson2@vla.defra.gsi.gov.uk
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fooks
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valtchovski
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D004285:Dogs; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*