The Raccoon an Emerging Rabies Host

Abstract

Animal borne rabies is a source of infection in humans, and raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the primary terrestrial reservoir in West Virginia (WV). To assess the behavior and status of raccoon variant rabies virus (RRV) in WV, a longitudinal analysis for the period 2000-2015 was performed, using data provided by the state Bureau of Public Health. Analytic approaches included linear-mixed, Poisson, and zero inflated Poisson regressions. Each of these approaches indicated that there had been a reduction in numbers of RRV positive animals over the study period, predominantly due to a decrease in raccoon infections. Non-raccoon species did not appear to have a similar decline, however. This has implications for the preventive measures currently being implemented. Spatial analyses of RRV and further examination of the virus in non-raccoon species are warranted. PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3403v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec Abstract 17 Animal borne rabies is a source of infection in humans, and raccoons (Procyon lotor) are 18 the primary terrestrial reservoir in West Virginia (WV). To assess the behavior and status of 19 raccoon variant rabies virus (RRV) in WV, a longitudinal analysis for the period 2000-2015 was 20 performed, using data provided by the state Bureau of Public Health. Analytic approaches 21 included linear-mixed, Poisson, and zero inflated Poisson regressions. Each of these approaches 22 indicated that there had been a reduction in numbers of RRV positive animals over the study 23 period, predominantly due to a decrease in raccoon infections. Non-raccoon species did not 24 appear to have a similar decline, however. This has implications for the preventive measures 25 currently being implemented. Spatial analyses of RRV and further examination of the virus in 26 non-raccoon species are warranted. 27 Introduction 28 Rabies causes an almost invariably fatal infection in any mammal, including humans. 29 This neurotropic virus is a lyssavirus, within the Rhabdoviridae family.(Prevention 2011a) 30 Rabies induced fatal encephalomyelitis is endemic throughout the Americas, with higher 31 numbers of human deaths in Mexico, Central America and South America.(Prevention 2011c) 32 Over the past 100 years, the species distribution of rabies and risk of human exposure in 33 the United States have changed dramatically because of coordinated vaccination efforts in 34 domestic animals, especially dogs and cats.(Prevention 2011b; Prevention 2011c) More than 36 1960, the majority were in domestic animals.(Prevention 2011b) The principal rabies hosts in the 37 U.S. today are wild mesocarnivores and bats,(Prevention 2017) and most human exposures 38 remain from carnivores. Although rabies kills thousands of people each year worldwide, human 39 deaths have decreased dramatically in the United States, (Lozano et al. 2012) primarily due to 40 successful preventive efforts. 41 Affected wildlife animals, including raccoons (Procyon lotor), often lose their fear of 42 humans and become active durin...

The Control of Raccoon Rabies in Ontario Canada: Proactive and Reactive Tactics, 1994–2007

“…That is, at that time, we had more confidence in vaccination by injection and removal of vectors from the population than we did with oral vaccination of raccoons and skunks. However, the use of population reduction for the control of raccoon rabies might be viewed as controversial because animals are euthanized, and in our case, a low percentage of those were actually rabid (Kappus et al, 1970;Debbie, 1991;Winkler and Jenkins, 1991;Rosatte et al, 2007d). It needs to be emphasized that animals incubating rabies normally are not detected using routine rabies diagnostic techniques.…”

“…The most feasible tactic for immunizing terrestrial wildlife rabies vectors over large geographic areas is through the aerial distribution of oral rabies vaccine baits (ORV; Kappus et al, 1970;Bachmann et al, 1990;MacInnes et al, 2001;Rosatte et al, 2007d). However, because an effective oral rabies vaccination system had yet to be developed for striped skunks and raccoons when raccoon rabies entered Ontario, OMNR staff had to rely on labor intensive tactics such as population reduction and TVR to control the disease in those species (Rosatte et al, 2001).…”

Oral vaccination of raccoons (Procyon lotor) with genetically modified rabies virus vaccines

“…1) [1,2]. Rabies was first identified in raccoons beginning in the 1940s in Florida [3]. For the next 25 years the distribution of raccoon rabies remained largely confined to the southeastern United States.…”

Modeling enzootic raccoon rabies from land use patterns - Georgia (USA) 2006-2010

“…Rabies virus has evolved to adapt to a wildlife meso-carnivore in a population that can be defined by geographical regions where transmission is sustained (Figure 1) 2 . Over the second half of the last century, the eastern raccoon rabies variant has spread northward and, in Georgia, the raccoon rabies enzootic has been established for over 50 years 3 .…”