Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:32:34.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Studies in the epidemiology of infectious myxomatosis of rabbits: III. Observations on two succeeding epizootics in australian wild rabbits on the riverine plain of south-eastern Australia 1951–1953

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

K. Myers ,
I. D. Marshall  and
Frank Fenner
K. Myers
Affiliation:
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Wildlife Surrey Section, Field Station, Albury, N.S.W.
I. D. Marshall
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra
Frank Fenner
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Field observations on myxomatosis in wild rabbit populations of the Riverine Plain of south-eastern Australia, extending between August 1951 and March 1953, were reported. General observations on vector abundance and disease incidence were made over a large area. Detailed analysis of the population counts, age structure and immune status of the rabbit population, and the occurrence of insect vectors, were made at one site, Lake Urana.

The case-mortality rate in the first epizootic was in the neighbourhood of 99·8%, whereas in the second epizootic it was about 90 %, and many more chronically sick rabbits were observed in the later outbreaks. The virulence of eight strains of virus recovered from mosquitoes at Lake Urana in December 1952 and four strains recovered at Corowa at the same time was found to be somewhat reduced when they were compared with the original standard laboratory strain of virus. It is thought that this attenuation is the major reason for the observed change in the case-mortality rates.

The mosquitoes, Anopheles annulipes and Culex annulirostris were by far the most important insect vectors of myxomatosis in this region.

Thanks are due to Messrs F. N. Ratcliffe, B. V. Fennessy, and H. J. Frith of the Wildlife Survey Section of C.S.I.R.O. for helpful discussion and assistance during the field work and in the preparation of the paper. The technical assistance in the field of Messrs C. S. Hale and K. L. S. Harley is gratefully acknowledged, as is the generous help afforded by the landholders of Lake Urana, especially Mr J. Muldoon, and by Mr W. Quirk, rabbit inspector.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , September 1954 , pp. 337 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1954

References

REFERENCES

Butler, B. E. (1950). Aust. J. agric. Res. 1, 231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobrotworsky, N. U. & Drummond, F. H. (1953). Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 78, 132.Google Scholar
Fenner, F. (1953). Nature, Lond., 172, 228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, F., Day, M. F. & Woodroofe, G. M. (1952). Aust. J. exp. Biol. 30, 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, F. & Marshall, I. D. (1954). J. Hyg., Camb., 52, 321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, F., Marshall, I. D. & Woodroofe, G. M. (1953). J. Hyg., Camb., 51, 225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, F. & Woodroofe, G. M. (1953). Brit. J. exp. Path. 34, 400.Google Scholar
Fenner, F. & Wóodroofe, G. M. (1954). Aust. J. exp. Biol. (In press).Google Scholar
Marshall, I.D., Dyce, A., Poole, W.E. & Fenner, F. (1955). J. Hyg., Camb. (In press).Google Scholar
Martin, C. J. (1936). Fourth Rep. Univ. Cambridge Inst. Animal Path.Google Scholar
Myers, K. (1954). J. Hyg., Camb., 52, 47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mykytowycz, R. (1953). Nature, Lond., 172, 448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliffe, F. N.Myers, K., Fennessy, B. V. & Calaby, J. H. (1952). Nature, Lond., 170, 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southern, H. N. (1940). Ann. appl. Biol. 27, 509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar