There is no doubt that the recent news and the situation of great insecurity that we are still living in our country and in the rest of the world, has raised the attention and sensitivity around everything related to viruses, zoonoses and wild animals. Some concern has therefore raised the recent news of a domestic cat struck by a virus belonging to the group of rabies virus, even if different from the classical rabies that we know and from which Italy has been officially free since 2013. The isolated virus belongs to lyssaviruses typical of bats, it is extremely rare - only one case found worldwide, in a bat in the Caucasus in 2002 - and would therefore suggest a new case of passage of the virus from wild environment to the domestic one and consequently to man.
The situation is completely different from what happened with COVID-19, but returns to highlight the need for human safety to know the health status of the wildlife. The Ministry of Health has requested that all wild mammal carcasses attributable to the definition of suspected case be analyzed. But who can make such findings and report them to the authorities if not those who usually frequent woods and natural environments outside the usual hiking and tourist routes? Once again it clearly emerges that the passive surveillance of the environment and therefore the safety of the population is closely linked to the presence and the reports of hunters, as well as their knowledge of wildlife which can make them identify behaviors that differ from the ordinary by signaling potential crisis situations early. In the following note, an in-depth analysis on the episode and on this theme drawn up byFaunistic and Agro-environmental Studies and Research Office of the Italian Federation of Hunting.
Case of Lyssavirus in a cat in the municipality of Arezzo.
Following the death of the cat that presented with nervous symptoms and that had previously bitten the owner, resident in the municipality of Arezzo, laboratory investigations were conducted that led to the identification of the presence in the animal of a virus belonging to the group of rabies virus. The virus isolate belongs to bat-typical Lyssaviruses and is different from classical rabies virus. Before this case, this specific Lyssavirus had been found only once, worldwide, in a bat from the Caucasus in 2002, with no confirmation of its ability to infect pets or humans. Classical rabies is generally transmitted by domestic and wild carnivores and the latest cases were reported in Italy in the fox, from 2008 to 2011. Italy has been officially free since 2013. Based on the experience gained from similar cases in other countries, for viruses similar to this Lyssavirus the transmission capacity from the natural reservoir to another species represents an extremely limited event, which is not followed by an epidemic spread.
In any case, i epidemiological insights, required by the uniqueness and novelty of the case, led to the establishment at the Minister of Health, in agreement with the Tuscany Region, of a technical-scientific group. The detection of the infection in the cat would represent the first evidence, worldwide, of the passage of the aforementioned virus from the chiroptera to another mammal, but this being the only report it is not in itself sufficient to establish the exact tank, so the necessary investigations and the collection of information and samples are underway. The Ministry of Health has issued an information note defining the suspect case even in wild mammals (with the exception of bats), or "any wild mammal that exhibits the following symptoms or attitudes or has died after presenting them: aggression / behavioral alterations, motor incoordination including flaccid paralysis, reduction of escape distance, easily catchable."
It is required by the Ministry of Health that all wild mammal carcasses that fall within the definition of suspected case, are given to the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute competent for the territory through the ASL of reference. We are facing a new case of the passage of viruses from the wild to the domestic environment and consequently to humans. Surely the situation is far from what happened in recent past with COVID-19, but stresses how it is essential for human safety to know the health status of wildlife. And in this context, once again, the winning strategy is passive surveillance, that is the collection of carcasses and the reporting of mortality in wild species that only hunters can effectively implement, to protect not only the passion for hunting but also and above all public health (Faunistic and Agro-environmental Studies and Research Office).