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Myxomatosis: the occurrence of antibody to a soluble antigen of myxoma virus in wild rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.), in Victoria, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

J. W. Edmonds ,
Rosamond C. H. Shepherd  and
I. F. Nolan
J. W. Edmonds
Affiliation:
Keith Turnbull Research Institute, Vermin and Noxious WeedsDestruction Board, Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Frankston3199, Victoria, Australia
Rosamond C. H. Shepherd
Affiliation:
Keith Turnbull Research Institute, Vermin and Noxious WeedsDestruction Board, Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Frankston3199, Victoria, Australia
I. F. Nolan
Affiliation:
Keith Turnbull Research Institute, Vermin and Noxious WeedsDestruction Board, Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Frankston3199, Victoria, Australia
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Summary

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The occurrence of antibody to myxoma virus in wild rabbits following epizootics is highest in the semi-arid north-west of Victoria and lowest in temperate southern Victoria. Occurrence ranges up to about 90% in the north-west and to about 70% in the south except on the Western Plains where epizootics are rare and antibody occurrence seldom exceeds 30%.

The establishment of the European rabbit flea may be changing the pattern of occurrence of antibody in the north-west by causing spring outbreaks of myxomatosis. It is suggested that the effects of the replacement of a simple recurring system of epizootic and breeding season several months apart by the occurrence of myxomatosis twice in the same year, once coincident with the breeding season, will be complex. The occurrence of detectable antibody may be less dependent on the infection rate and may be dependent to some extent on the relative timing of spring myxomatosis and the breeding season.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , October 1978 , pp. 245 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

References

REFERENCES

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