Posted on 05/05/2009 12:00:56 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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.
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.
(See pictures of infectious animals.)
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Genetic studies suggest foxes are also spreading the new strain to each other, though the results have not yet been peer reviewed.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.
"It shouldn't have been able to pass from skunk to skunk," Worgess said.
Rabies has continued to crop up in skunks for eight years now, despite periodic vaccination campaigns. And so far this year, county officials have documented 14 rabid foxes in the Flagstaff area.
Now laboratory studies at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta appear to confirm that the fox and skunk rabies viruses are mutated forms of the bat strain.
"We can see degrees of relatedness and patterns in their genetic codes," said Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program for the CDC.
This sort of rapid evolution is exactly what worries public health officials when it comes to all manner of viruses. Virologists haven't seen such fast adaptation to a new species in rabies before.
"That's why Flagstaff is such an interesting story worldwide," said David Bergman, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's state director for Arizona.
"We're watching evolution in action on the ground."
Could Rabies Become Contagious in Humans?
The Arizona rabies situation is risky, because the infected species live so close to people.
Flagstaff's sprawl in recent decades has created a perfect opportunity for rabies to mutate into species-hopping forms, the CDC's Rupprecht said.
New-home construction, often in wooded areas, has actually increased habitat and food sources for bats, skunks, and foxes. Skunks live under houses, for example, and as diggers, make themselves at home on golf courses. Bats, meanwhile, are adept at living in attics and under loose shingles.
As more rabies-susceptible animals congregate in the region, more infections can take place. And each infection is an opportunity for the virus to mutate into a more virulent form—literally upping the odds of a new strain developing.
"That's a pattern that we see all over the United States," Rupprecht said. Similar suburban development in the eastern U.S. in the late 1970s, he noted, led to the spread of raccoon rabies from the Canadian border to the Deep South.
The risk of such a virulent strain jumping to people "should be a major concern," said Hinh Ly, a molecular virologist at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who is not involved in studies of the Arizona outbreak.
But no one is expecting the rabies strain to become a contagious, swine flu-like epidemic among humans.
Flu viruses, for one thing, tend to infect people fast, so "vaccination after exposure would be too late to prevent infection," said Elisabeth Lawaczeck, the Arizona Department of Health Services' public health veterinarian.
Rabies takes its time before going from incubation to infection, so post-exposure rabies vaccinations tend to be effective at stopping the virus. If untreated, though, rabies, which attacks the central nervous system, is often fatal in humans.
What Next?
Rabies cases among animals are expected to increase as the spring and summer mating seasons bring potential pairs and rivals together. (Related: "Bat Rabies Threat Rises With Summer Temperatures.")
Already, Flagstaff has declared a 90-day pet quarantine—all dogs on leashes and all cats indoors—which began in April.
A wildlife vaccination plan could stem the virus's spread.
Local and state officials enacted vaccination programs in northern Arizona in 2001 and 2005 but discontinued each effort after two years without rabies reports—the World Health Organization's standard for declaring an area rabies-free.
Now state vaccination funds have been reallocated, the USDA's Bergman said, and emergency funds are increasingly rare due to the recession.
Adding to the worries, Lawaczeck, the Arizona veterinary official, said she and other public heath officials were "very unsettled" when the first rabid fox reports came in from Flagstaff this year—and not just because of the evolutionary implications for rabies.
"This means a much wider spread of rabies," she said, "because [foxes] travel so much farther."
>>>This whole article must just be made up because evolution is, you know, not real and all...<<<
Very few Creationists deny that God’s creation changes through genetic mutation and hybrids.
That is a far cry from the absurd beliefs that:
1) Either the Universe always existed and has no origin, or at some point it spontaneously created itself out of nothing.
2) Highly complex and ordered organisms created themselves out of some ancient, lifeless, mud puddle.
3) Relatively simple (though still amazingly complex) single cell organisms made themselves into fish, reptiles, birds, lower mammals, apes and finally hummans.
Come back and gloat when these rabies viruses evolve to the point where they can build skyscrapers, airplanes, space shuttles, or even make inane posts on the internet.
humans, not ‘hummans’ sorry for the typo.
>>>Flagstaff’s sprawl in recent decades has created a perfect opportunity for rabies to mutate into species-hopping forms, the CDC’s Rupprecht said.
New-home construction, often in wooded areas, has actually increased habitat and food sources for bats, skunks, and foxes. Skunks live under houses, for example, and as diggers, make themselves at home on golf courses. Bats, meanwhile, are adept at living in attics and under loose shingles.<<<
Don’t you love the hypocrisy of enviro-wackos? Usually, they blame ‘sprawl’ for destroying habitats and decreasing animal populations, but when a deadly disease is involved, all of the sudden ‘sprawl’ is creating homes for wildlife?
At the same time, they condemn hunting, which manages animal populations and helps prevent the spread of diseases.
Rabies ping, (Thanks, Jet Jaguar!)
Why can’t there be a discussion of what sounds like a nasty new rabies virus without people making snide cynical comments, banging on the creationism versus evolution argument and in general disrupting what is an interesting subject.
I hate FR lately,,those who think they are funny with the same old comments, those who think they are wise with the same old arguments ,,,are not. They are ruining a good site with their constant vitriol and banal remarks.
This virus has nasty implications for anyone who may come in contact with infected animals, and that includes people who live in cities which have significant rodent populations. Imagine rats giving the virus to each other in NY City, for instance, and then passing it on to humans...who pass it on to each other.
The idea of a communicable form of rabies which does not require contact with the bodily fluids of the host to contract has potential to be a horrorshow in real life.
Cute and snarky comments about rabid liberals (admittedly tempting to make), arguments about evolution versus creation (another time and place, please--to everything there is a season), all pale when considering the potential for enormous numbers of people or food source animals dying a horrible death.
I understand your frustration (and I am on dial-up) but still enjoy FR in spite of the tendency of some to try and hijack threads, and I hope you will continue to join me and others here who manage to pass over the irrelevant and banal arguments and read through to the heart of the discussion.
Will we need a vaccine that will be taken by everyone?
“Rabies has continued to crop up in skunks for eight years now, despite periodic vaccination campaigns. “
... just curious... how DOES one vaccinate a skunk?
very carefully?
Okay, what’s going on, story after story and you hear almost no stories of what Obama is doing or what is going on in Washington, I’m truly beginning to wonder if we have a Nicolae Carpathia here ...
National Geographic????
Wow, the circulations are really desperate in selling magazines. The media is trying anything to hold onto their subscribers.
“Fear” is #1 in their playbook.
By dropping vaccine laced food from helicopters.
Interesting. Yesterday I saw a bobcat crossing one of our main roads at noon time. Very unusual for them to be out roaming during the day.
"Everything tastes better with rabies. YAY RABIES!!"
This doesn’t sound new to me. In Texas we have been told that skunks, foxes, possums etc along with bats have always been carriers of rabies.
It is normal for Rabies to become more prevalent in the Spring with the emergence of the young into the population. Food laced with the oral vaccine will cut the spread as well as animal control. There are many places in the US where the population has become complacent about vaccination and the LE ignores the laws on the books. NE Mississippi is one of the areas.
Those are great movies...when is the next one coming out?
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