Author:
COOKE B. D.,ROBINSON A. J.,MERCHANT J. C.,NARDIN A.,CAPUCCI L.
Abstract
ELISA techniques developed for the veterinary diagnosis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease
(RHD) in domestic rabbits were used for studying the epidemiology of RHD in Australian
wild rabbits. The combination of ELISA techniques that distinguished IgA, IgG and IgM
antibody responses and a longitudinal data set, mainly based on capture-mark-recapture of
rabbits, provided a reliable basis for interpreting serology and set the criteria used to classify
rabbits' immunological status. Importantly, young with maternal antibodies, immune rabbits
and rabbits apparently re-exposed to RHD were readily separated. Three outbreaks of RHD
occurred in 1996–7. The timing of RHD outbreaks was mainly driven by recruitment of young
rabbits that generally contracted RHD after they lost their maternally derived immunity.
Young that lost maternal antibodies in summer were not immediately infected, apparently
because transmission of RHDV slows at that time, but contracted RHD in the autumn when
conditions were again suitable for disease spread.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Epidemiology
Cited by
102 articles.
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