Special Issue "Rabbit Viral Diseases"

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 February 2024 | Viewed by 522

Special Issue Editors

CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Interests: host-parasite
1. Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO), Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (InBIO), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: RNA viruses; rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus; virus evolution; virus recombination; species jump; immunogenetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Interests: RNA viruses; host–pathogen co-evolution; virus recombination; viral evolution; genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Domestic and wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations have been mainly affected by two viruses, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) and myxoma virus (MYXV), which are responsible for high mortalities. Other viruses were also detected in the European rabbit, such as hepatitis E, rabbit herpesvirus, coronavirus, etc. The advent of techniques with high sensitivity in the detection of viruses, such as real-time PCR and high-throughput sequencing, further allow the identification of new viruses and new strains circulating in the European rabbit.

In this Special Issue, we welcome full-length original articles and review papers on all aspects of RNA and DNA viruses detected in the European rabbit. We are interested not only in the evolution of these viruses and their impact on European rabbit populations, but also in aspects related to host adaptation, disease progression, tropism, etc. The main goal is to obtain the maximum information possible about which viruses are circulating in European rabbit populations, even if they are not provoking disease. Knowledge gathered with this Special Issue will be used for management strategies and will aid to prevent future outbreaks.

Dr. Pedro José Castro Esteves
Dr. Joana Abrantes
Dr. Ana M. Lopes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Optimising the Delivery of RHDV to Rabbits for Biocontrol: An Experimental Evaluation of Two Novel Methods of Virus Delivery
Viruses 2023, 15(9), 1814; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15091814 - 25 Aug 2023
Viewed by 349
Abstract
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) is established as a landscape-scale biocontrol that assists the management of invasive European rabbits and their impacts in both Australia and New Zealand. In addition to this, it is also available to land managers to augment rabbit control [...] Read more.
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) is established as a landscape-scale biocontrol that assists the management of invasive European rabbits and their impacts in both Australia and New Zealand. In addition to this, it is also available to land managers to augment rabbit control efforts at a local scale. However, current methods of deploying RHDV to rabbits that rely on the consumption of virus-treated baits can be problematic as rabbits are reluctant to consume bait when there is abundant, green, protein-rich feed available. We ran a suite of interrupted time-series experiments to compare the duration of infectivity of two conventional (carrot and oat baits) and two novel (meat bait and soil burrow spray) methods of deploying RHDV to rabbits. All methods effectively killed exposed rabbits. Soil burrow spray and carrot baits resulted in infection and mortality out to 5 days post their deployment in the field, and meat baits caused infection out to 10 days post their deployment. In contrast, oat baits continued to infect and kill exposed rabbits out to 20 days post deployment. Molecular assays demonstrated high viral loads in deployed baits beyond the duration for which they were infectious or lethal to rabbits. Based on our results, we suggest that the drying of meat baits may create a barrier to effective transmission of RHDV by adult flies within 10 days. We therefore hypothesise that fly larvae production and development on infected tissues is critical to prolonged viral transmission from meat baits, and similarly from carcasses of RHDV mortalities, via mechanical fly vectors. Our study demonstrates that meat baits and soil spray could provide additional virus deployment options that remove the need for rabbits to consume baits at times when they are reluctant to do so. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rabbit Viral Diseases)
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