Government Decree No. HG174/2023 validating the Veterinary and Sanitary Regulation establishing preventive measures and animal rabies control.

Government Decree establishes preventive measures and animal rabies control. The National Food Safety Agency provides the public with clear and accessible information on the animal health requirements regarding rabies that apply to the movement of animals and animal products, as well as the control standards for this movement, both during import/export and in the event of movement throughout the country. In order to increase the effectiveness of the fight against rabies, the Agency creates a system of continuous surveillance and registration of cases of rabies in animals and effective cooperation between representatives of state veterinary and sanitary authorities, freely practicing veterinarians, representatives of central and local public authorities and animal owners. To prevent contamination by the rabies virus, the collection, packaging, labelling, storage and transportation of specimens for laboratory diagnosis of rabies should only be carried out by persons who have been trained and immunized against rabies. Rabies surveillance for disease eradication is mandatory for animal species belonging to the following orders: Chiroptera, Carnivora, Bovidae, Suidae, Equidae, Cervidae and Camelidae. If during the period of veterinary and sanitary supervision in animals signs of rabies are detected, they should be killed. In this case, as well as in the event of death of animals during the surveillance period, regardless of the cause of death, the veterinarian immediately informs the vaccination center of public health institutions if there are persons suspected of being infected, and takes measures to send samples to the Republican Veterinary Diagnostic Center for laboratory diagnostics, carrying out or directly supervising the collection and dispatch of samples, burial of carcasses and disinfection.