@article{986ea5451b8e44098ded5b4dac72ab22,
title = "Increased virulence of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus associated with genetic resistance in wild Australian rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)",
abstract = "The release of myxoma virus (MYXV) and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia with the aim of controlling over abundant rabbits has provided a unique opportunity to study the initial spread and establishment of emerging pathogens, as well as their co-evolution with their mammalian hosts. In contrast to MYXV, which attenuated shortly after its introduction, rapid attenuation of RHDV has not been observed. By studying the change in virulence of recent field isolates at a single field site we show, for the first time, that RHDV virulence has increased through time, likely because of selection to overcome developing genetic resistance in Australian wild rabbits. High virulence also appears to be favoured as rabbit carcasses, rather than diseased animals, are the likely source of mechanical insect transmission. These findings not only help elucidate the co-evolutionary interaction between rabbits and RHDV, but reveal some of the key factors shaping virulence evolution.",
keywords = "Transmission, Virulence, Adaptiveevolution, Biological control, Rabbit, Calicivirus, Emerging disease, Genetic resistance, Adaptive evolution, Caliciviridae Infections/genetics, Phylogeny, Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Rabbit/classification, Rabbits/genetics, Animals, Australia",
author = "Peter Elsworth and Brian Cooke and John Kovaliski and Ronald Sinclair and Edward Holmes and Tanja Strive",
note = "Funding Information: We thank L. Capucci for the provision of RHDV ELISA reagents, S. Haboury, J. Wright, D. George and M. Drewer for expert technical assistance, David Peacock for assistance with sample and rabbit acquisition, Greg Mutze for assistance with capture of rabbits and helpful comments on the draft manuscript, David Aster and Andrew Granzotto for maintaining and breeding rabbits at Inglewood, and Nina Schwensow for helpful comments. This project is supported the ARC (grant DP140103362 ). ECH is supported by an NHMRC Australia Fellowship and by NIH grant R01 AI093804-01A1 . PE׳s postgraduate studies were supported by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (grant IA-CRC 7.T.5).",
year = "2014",
doi = "10.1016/j.virol.2014.06.037",
language = "English",
volume = "464-465",
pages = "415--423",
journal = "Virology",
issn = "0042-6822",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
number = "1",
}