Canine distemper in endangered Ethiopian wolves.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is the world's rarest canid; ≈500 wolves remain. The largest population is found within the Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) in southeastern Ethiopia, where conservation efforts have demonstrated the negative effect of rabies virus on wolf populations. We describe previously unreported infections with canine distemper virus (CDV) among these wolves during 2005-2006 and 2010.

A cross-sectional study of factors associated with dog ownership in Tanzania.

Background: Mass vaccination of owned domestic dogs is crucial for the control of rabies in sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge of the proportion of households which own dogs, and of the factors associated with dog ownership, is important for the planning and implementation of rabies awareness and dog vaccination programmes, and for the promotion of responsible dog ownership. This paper reports the results of a cross-sectional study of dog ownership by households in urban and rural communities in the United Republic of Tanzania.

The conservation relevance of epidemiological research into carnivore viral diseases in the serengeti.

Recent outbreaks of rabies and canine distemper in wildlife populations of the Serengeti show that infectious disease constitutes a significant cause of mortality that can result in regional extirpation of endangered species even within large, well-protected areas. Nevertheless, effective management of an infectious disease depends critically on understanding the epidemiological dynamics of the causative pathogen. Pathogens with short infection cycles cannot persist in small populations in the absence of a more permanent reservoir of infection.

Relating long-term studies to conservation practice: the case of the Serengeti Cheetah Project.

Although detailed, long-term scientific studies provide potentially crucial information for conservation, they are rare. Moreover, there is often a disjunction between scientists and managers that can affect whether scientific results are applied to help solve conservation problems. Long-term studies can promote increased communication between scientists and managers and hence offer an opportunity for constructive engagement between the two groups.

Canine vaccination--providing broader benefits for disease control.

This paper reviews the broader benefits of canine vaccination to human and animal health and welfare with an emphasis on the impacts of mass dog vaccination against rabies in countries of the less-developed world. Domestic dogs are the source of infection for the vast majority (>95%) of cases of human rabies worldwide, and dogs remain the principal reservoir throughout Africa and Asia. Canine vaccination against rabies has been shown to dramatically reduce the number of cases in dogs, the incidence of human animal-bite injuries (and hence the demand for costly post-exposure prophylaxis) and the likely number of human cases, primarily in children.

Prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasmagondii and Neosporacaninum in red foxes (Vulpesvulpes) from around the UK.

The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in a random sample of red foxes from around the UK. Lung fluid from over 500 foxes was examined using an indirect fluorescent antibody test. Reciprocal titres of specific antibodies to T.

Rabies in endangered Ethiopian wolves.

With rabies emerging as a particular threat to wild canids, we report on a rabies outbreak in a subpopulation of endangered Ethiopian wolves in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, in 2003 and 2004. Parenteral vaccination of wolves was used to manage the outbreak.

Ticks need not bite their red grouse hosts to infect them with louping ill virus.

For pathogens transmitted by biting vectors, one of the fundamental assumptions is often that vector bites are the sole or main route of host infection. Here, we demonstrate experimentally a transmission route whereby hosts (red grouse, Lagopus lagopus scoticus) became infected with a member of the tick-borne encephalitis virus complex, louping ill virus, after eating the infected tick vector. Furthermore, we estimated from field observations that this mode of infection could account for 73-98% of all virus infections in wild red grouse in their first season.

The role of non-viraemic transmission on the persistence and dynamics of a tick borne virus--Louping ill in red grouse ( Lagopus lagopus scoticus) and mountain hares ( Lepus timidus).

There exist many tick borne infections that are of either economic or public health interest. Mathematical models have previously been used to describe the dynamics of these infections. However it has recently come to light that there is an alternative mechanism for the transmission of these diseases that has not been considered in a modelling framework.

Identifying reservoirs of infection: a conceptual and practical challenge.

Many infectious agents, especially those that cause emerging diseases, infect more than one host species. Managing reservoirs of multihost pathogens often plays a crucial role in effective disease control. However, reservoirs remain variously and loosely defined.