Epidemiology of emerging zoonoses in Israel.

The epizootiologic, climatic, and ecologic conditions in the Middle East, combined with socioeconomic and agricultural structures in Israel, have created a unique and hazardous veterinary public health situation in this country. In this paper, emerging zoonotic diseases are newly introduced disease agents or endemic zoonoses whose previous epidemiologic patterns have changed. As of 1996, 15 zoonotic diseases of animals, anthrax, brucellosis, cysticercosis (bovine), erysipelas, leishmaniasis (canine), leptospirosis, listeriosis, malleus (glanders), psittacosis (chlamydiasis), Q fever, rabies, Rift Valley fever (RVF), salmonellosis, trichinosis, and tuberculosis (bovine and avian) (Table 1), have been declared notifiable in Israel. When diagnosed in animals, these diseases are officially reported to the state veterinary officers, who in turn report them to the medical officers. Of these notifiable zoonoses, RVF has never been recorded in Israel, and glanders has not been reported since 1951; ten are notifiable in humans at the national level. This article examines five of the reportable animal diseases whose epidemiologic features have changed in Israel during the last decade: Brucella melitensis in cattle, Salmonella enteritidis in poultry, rabies, canine leishmaniasis, and trichinosis in wild boars. Two nonreportable diseases in animals—botulism in ruminants and echinococcosis—will also be discussed briefly. (Table 1). Recently, the possibility that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) may be a zoonotic disease has been discussed worldwide. Thus, we also describe steps adopted by the Veterinary Services and Animal Health (VSAH) to prevent the introduction of BSE into Israel. The data on zoonotic diseases in animals are from VSAH’s annual reports to the Office International des Epizootics in Paris. If not otherwise mentioned, the data on the diseases in humans are from the weekly and monthly reports of the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem.