The Tel Aviv area was placed on a rabies alert Thursday after an infected dog was found on a beach just north of the city.
People recently bitten or scratched by stray animals were warned to visit a clinic immediately for rabies shots.
Pet owners were urged to make sure their animals were immunized and were ordered to keep dogs leashed and muzzled when out of doors.
The diseased dog, a mongrel that died Tuesday at a municipal pound, was the first confirmed case of rabies in the Tel Aviv area in years.
The Veterinary Services of the Health and Agriculture ministries issued the alert after learning of three other cases of rabies discovered in the coastal plain recently: two in the Netanya area and one in Rishpon, north of Tel Aviv.
Fifty cases of rabid animals were reported in Israel in 1989 and 56 in 1990, compared to an average of 25 a year in previous year. Twelve have been reported this year.
Veterinarians say the increased incidence of rabid dogs in the Greater Tel Aviv area may be due to the abandonment of pets by owners who evacuated the city to escape Iraqi Scud missiles during the Persian Gulf War last winter.
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