Rabies has broken out in Harghita County!

Rabies has been confirmed in two dead cattle in the area of Sântimbru (Csíkszenttamás), prompting the authorities to order epidemic-control measures. People who came into contact with the animals, including the veterinarian, have been referred for rabies vaccination and immunoglobulin treatment, said István Róbert, head of the Harghita County Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate, G4Media reports.

The infection in an adult cow and a young bovine, kept about five kilometers apart, was first confirmed by the laboratory in Sfântu Gheorghe and later by the National Institute for Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest. A three-kilometer protection zone and a surrounding surveillance area have been designated around the outbreak sites: animal movement is being restricted, herds are being monitored, dogs and cats are being registered, and rabies vaccinations are being supplemented. Three more animals are being investigated for suspected infection: a cow that died in Dăneşti (Csíkdánfalva), a cow showing symptoms in Sândominic (Csíkszentdomokos), and an unvaccinated roughly six-month-old dog in Mihăileni (Csíkszentmihály) — the latter's owners had seen it come into contact with a fox a week earlier. The authorities suspect wild animals are behind the infections, so they have also planned to reduce the fox and jackal population. They warn that no one should approach or touch wild animals behaving unusually, appearing strikingly tame, drooling heavily or acting aggressively, and should instead notify the authorities. Anyone who has come into contact with a suspect animal should urgently seek medical examination.

Hargita Népe already reported on the two cattle from Sântimbru on September 28, citing Levente Fodor, head of the epidemiology department at the county's sanitary veterinary directorate. Animals grazing on the outskirts of the village became noticeably aggressive and then died; according to the paper, the carcasses were buried and the people who had contact with them were sent for medical examination.

In Harghita County, rabies vaccination of foxes has also been neglected since 2024, and its resumption had been promised for the end of September this year — precisely when the infected cattle in Sântimbru had already died. In our August article, we quoted a representative of the Maramureș sanitary veterinary authority, who stated clearly that vaccination had stopped due to lack of funds, and that the consequences of the skipped anti-rabies campaigns were already showing up in cases of illness. Now protection zones are being designated in Harghita County as well, animals are being examined and people are being sent for preventive treatment, so alongside the money saved on vaccines, a bill for containment measures is slowly being added — while the losses suffered by farmers and the fear felt by the affected families are borne by those whom no one consulted before the cost-cutting decision was made. This raises the question of whether the leadership of Harghita County informed the population that the anti-rabies campaigns for foxes were skipped in 2024 and again in 2025. It also raises the question of who decided to cut this item from the budget for two consecutive years — because just because this happened in Maramureș or Bacău County does not mean the same approach had to be taken in Harghita County as well.

Fallow Land