Tactics for the control of wildlife rabies in Ontario (Canada)

Rc, Rosatte; Cd, MacInnes; Mj, Power; Dh, Johnston; Bachmann, Peter; Cp, Nunan; Wannop, C. C.; Pedde, Michael A.; L, Calder

doi:10.20506/rst.12.1.670

Cited by 23 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Rabies case reports caused by all AFX RABV variants recovered in this study area from 1990 to the present are summarised in Fig 2. The significant overall decline in rabies cases between 1990 and 1996 (Fig 2A) reflects the success of the provincial ORV program targeting foxes [9,24] and the concomitant effect of increasing immunity within the fox population on reduced spill-over to other species. This reduction in rabies cases was mirrored by an overall decline in the annual number of total submissions for this area, which dropped from over 2000 in the early 1990s down to a few hundred by the year 2010.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of the arctic fox variant rabies viruses responsible for recent cases of the disease in southern Ontario

Nadin-Davis

Fehlner-Gardiner

2019

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

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A subpopulation of the arctic fox lineage of rabies virus has circulated extensively in red fox populations of Ontario, Canada, between the 1960s and 1990s. An intensive wildlife rabies control program, in which field operations were initiated in 1989, resulted in elimination of the disease in eastern Ontario. However in southwestern Ontario, as numbers of rabid foxes declined the proportion of skunks confirmed to be infected with this rabies virus variant increased and concerted control efforts targeting this species were employed to eliminate the disease. Since 2012 no cases due to this viral variant were reported in southwestern Ontario until 2015 when a single case of rabies due to the arctic fox variant was reported in a bovine. Several additional cases have been documented subsequently. Since routine antigenic typing cannot discriminate between the variants which previously circulated in Ontario and those from northern Canada it was unknown whether these recent cases were the result of a new introduction of this variant or a continuation of the previous enzootic. To explore the origins of this new outbreak whole genome sequences of a collection of 128 rabies viruses recovered from Ontario between the 1990s to the present were compared with those representative of variants circulating in the Canadian north. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the variant responsible for current cases in southwestern Ontario has evolved from those variants known to circulate in Ontario previously and is not due to a new introduction from northern regions. Thus despite ongoing passive surveillance the persistence of wildlife rabies went undetected in the study area for almost three years. The apparent adaptation of this rabies virus variant to the skunk host provided the opportunity to explore coding changes in the viral genome which might be associated with this host shift. Several such changes were identified including a subset for which the operation of positive selection was supported. The location of a small number of these amino acid substitutions in or close to protein motifs of functional importance suggests that some of them may have played a role in this host shift.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of the arctic fox variant rabies viruses responsible for recent cases of the disease in southern Ontario

Nadin-Davis

Fehlner-Gardiner

2019

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

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“…The epizootic reached southern Ontario in 1956 due mainly to the movements of infected Red Foxes (Johnston and Beauregard 1969). Fox rabies remained enzootic in southern Ontario since the 1950s, however, the prevalence of that disease has recently declined dramatically due to rabies management programs involving the use of oral rabies vaccine baits and TVR (MaclInnes 1987;Rosatte et al 1992;Rosatte et al 1993). Dispersing Red Foxes and to a lesser extent Coyotes (as Red Foxes are the primary vector of the Arctic fox strain of rabies) in Ontario have likely played a major role in the maintenance of the disease as well as in the initiation of new outbreaks (MacInnes 1987;Johnston and Beauregard 1969;Tabel et al 1974).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long distance movement by a Coyote, Canis latrans, and a Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, in Ontario: Implications for disease-spread

Rosatte

2002

The Canadian Field-Naturalist

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“…Oral rabies vaccination programs have been conducted in different wildlife species in parts of North America. In Canada, ORV has been successful in controlling red fox rabies in southern Ontario (Rosatte et al 1993). In the United States, ORV has been used in coyotes (Canis latrans) in southern Texas.…”

Section: Rabiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Risk Management for the Interface of Wildlife, Domestic Animals, and Humans

Fischer¹,

Gerhold²

2006

vertebrate_pest_conference

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Strategies to assess and reduce risk associated with disease agents in wild animals must be based upon thorough knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease agent, specific local information, and other factors. Risk evaluation and management efforts will involve organizations with differing expertise and cooperation will be essential between wildlife management, public health, and domestic animal health agencies. Risk reduction strategies may be based upon manipulation of the disease agent, the host, the environment, and/or human activities. Management of human activity, particularly the promotion of biosecurity, may be the most efficient strategy because other measures are more difficult and expensive. The science of risk assessment and disease management in wildlife is growing and evolving as new situations arise and as new methods are developed to meet the needs of wildlife resource, animal agriculture, and public health interest groups.

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Tactics for the control of wildlife rabies in Ontario (Canada)

Cited by 23 publications

References 4 publications

Origins of the arctic fox variant rabies viruses responsible for recent cases of the disease in southern Ontario

Origins of the arctic fox variant rabies viruses responsible for recent cases of the disease in southern Ontario

Long distance movement by a Coyote, Canis latrans, and a Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, in Ontario: Implications for disease-spread

Biological Risk Management for the Interface of Wildlife, Domestic Animals, and Humans

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