-Veterinary Science and Microbiology

VSC438 Ecology of Infectious Disease

Viruses

Dr. Jim Collins

 

 Rabies, Geography, Raccoons, Vampire Bats, and War

 

Topics

What does Rabies cause?

Case histories

The situation in Arizona

Local ecological conditions are the most important, everywhere.

The pathways of the virus in an animal or person

Rabies, the virus

Rabies virus is a Lyssavirus

How do humans get it? Rabies' niche

The Rise of Rabies in Wildlife

Rabies in Domestic animals, pets, and livestock

Major groups of rabies virus in the USA

The East Coast Raccoon Rabies epizootic

Molecular typing

            Use of Monoclonal antibodies to decipher the ecology and strain

            Correlation with phylogeny of the virus

Prevention of rabies or interrupting the ecological niche

            Avoidance, quarantine, vaccination, population control

The Oral Rabies Vaccine for Wildlife

      

Questions
1.      In what populations of animals in the USA is rabies increasing? How does it spread?  
2.      What are the methods we can use to control it – i.e., affect its ecological niche?

3.      Draw the (pathogenesis) pathogenic pathway of the virus in an animal.

4.      What biological features of this virus pathway in the host are the most important
in preventing us from controlling the virus?

5.      Where is Rabies in Arizona?  What control measures are being used here?

 

Case: Why cannot Rabies be controlled in wildlife?

BBC International Reports Text of report by Russian Mayak radio

Russian Mayak radio reported several days ago that a sick fox had bitten 2 people in the streets of Ivanovo. To date, there are already 25 people across the region who have received similar bites, while, by comparison, last year in the whole of Russia, there were 22 such cases, 15 of whom died.  The problem of last year's  high mortality rate, according to sanitary inspectors, lies in the negligence of the victims, who have failed to turn to a doctor for help in time. The negligence also shows itself in the fact that not everyone is aware that foxes infected with rabies don't behave like dogs or cats at all. They approach people fearlessly, something a healthy fox would never do.