There is a rabbit virus spreading like wildfire through the wild rabbit populations in the southwest US. It is not a new virus. First detected in China 35 years ago, variants of it are found on every continent. What is different this time is that in the past it only infected captive, farmed or domesticated rabbits, not the wild rabbit populations. In a rabbit farm with 200 rabbits, it can kill all of them in 3 days. It effects all different kinds of rabbits. It is killing the rabbits in Australia where they were finding it impossible to control the wild rabbit populations.
There is a vaccination made in Europe but it takes time to get and is apparently only available in small quantities. Paperwork needs to be filled out and documented cases need to be reported before permission to use the vaccine is given. The time lag in getting the vaccination and the fact that the virus can remain in the environment for up to 3 months means that pet rabbits should be kept inside.
It is possible people can carry the virus on their clothes or shoes. It doesn't effect humans. The problem is the speed by which it transmits itself through the wild animal populations over multiple states. Some rabbits survive and it might be possible for them to repopulate the area. The problem is that the predators that rely on eating rabbits can themselves disappear long before rabbits repopulate the area, even then their population numbers could still be very low.
Since viruses can trade genes, it is not a good sign that this virus is able to spread itself around so quickly. We might end up needing a way of delivering a vaccine by aerial spraying or by putting it in the water if this high speed transmission ability can be transferred to other viruses.
There is a vaccination made in Europe but it takes time to get and is apparently only available in small quantities. Paperwork needs to be filled out and documented cases need to be reported before permission to use the vaccine is given. The time lag in getting the vaccination and the fact that the virus can remain in the environment for up to 3 months means that pet rabbits should be kept inside.
It is possible people can carry the virus on their clothes or shoes. It doesn't effect humans. The problem is the speed by which it transmits itself through the wild animal populations over multiple states. Some rabbits survive and it might be possible for them to repopulate the area. The problem is that the predators that rely on eating rabbits can themselves disappear long before rabbits repopulate the area, even then their population numbers could still be very low.
Since viruses can trade genes, it is not a good sign that this virus is able to spread itself around so quickly. We might end up needing a way of delivering a vaccine by aerial spraying or by putting it in the water if this high speed transmission ability can be transferred to other viruses.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/...