A campaign to inoculate wild foxes against rabies through air-dropped, vaccine-laced baits will start at the end of April, authorities said Thursday, warning members of the public to seek medical assistance if they touch the baits.
The Rural Development Ministry said the annual oral vaccination campaign will last until mid-May at the earliest, and will involve baits being dropped by aircraft across northern Greece.
Rabies, which is transmitted by biting, is a potentially fatal disease for humans as well as animals. Greece has been registered with European Union authorities as rabies-free since 2021.
The vaccination campaign is deemed necessary because wild red foxes are the main potential source of the disease in Greece, posing an indirect threat to humans through domesticated animals that rabies-carrying foxes may bite.
A ministry statement warned that because the baits will contain the virus, albeit of a weak strain, anyone encountering them “is strongly recommended to avoid any contact whatsoever” with the baits.
“In cases of accidental contact, medical assistance must be immediately sought,” it added.