[ SHOWGSD-L ] Rabies in Arizona
- From: Stormy Hope <Stormy435@xxxxxxx>
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 08:40:13 -0700
_http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090504-rabies-evolution_2.h
tml_
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090504-rabies-evolution_2.html
)
New, Fast-Evolving Rabies Virus Found -- And Spreading
Anne Minard
for National Geographic News
May 4, 2009
Evolving faster than any other new rabies virus on record, a
northern-Arizona rabies strain has mutated to become contagious among
skunks and now
foxes, experts believe.
The strain looks to be spreading fast, commanding attention from disease
researchers across the United States (U.S. map).
It's not so unusual for rabid animals to attack people on hiking
trails and
in driveways, or even in a bar-as happened March 27, when an addled
bobcat
chased pool players around the billiards table at the Chaparral in
Cottonwood.
Nor is it odd that rabid skunks and foxes are testing positive for a
contagious rabies strain commonly associated with big brown bats.
What is unusual is that the strain appears to have mutated so that foxes
and skunks are now able to pass the virus on to their kin-not just
through
biting and scratching but through simple socializing, as humans might
spread
a flu.
Usually the secondary species-in this case, a skunk or fox bitten by a
bat-
is a dead-end host. The infected animal may become disoriented and
even die
but is usually unable to spread the virus, except through violent
attacks.
Skunks have already been proven to be passively transmitting the
strain to
each other, as documented in a 2006 study in the journal Emerging
Infectious Diseases.
Genetic studies suggest foxes are also spreading the new strain to each
other, though the results have not yet been peer reviewed.
Unprecedented Evolution
When a skunk in Flagstaff, Arizona, died of rabies in 2001, wildlife
specialists thought it was a "freak accident"-due to a one-off, run-of-
the-mill
bat bite-said Barbara Worgess, director of the Coconino County Health
Department.
Lab tests later showed that the virus had adapted to the skunk
physiology
and become contagious within the species.
More on the link above
Stormy Hope
www.carpoc.org
AKC Legislative Liaison, GSDCA
Sunshine Squad <showgsd.org/sunshine.html)
GSDs and more
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