Garcia-Bocanegra, I. et al.: Myxomatosis in wild rabbit: Design of control programs in Mediterranean ecosystems

Ignacio Garcia-Bocanegra, Rafael Jesus Astorga, Sebastian Napp, Jordi Casal, Belen Huerta, Carmen Borge, Antonio Arenas: Myxomatosis in wild rabbit: Design of control programs in Mediterranean ecosystems.
In: Preventive Veterinary Medicine 93 (2010) 42–50.

Link: http://www.uco.es/dptos/sanidad-animal/img/infecciosas/2mwr.pdf

Zitat :

A B S T R A C T

A cross-sectional study was carried out in natural wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
populations from southern Spain to identify risk factors associated to myxoma virus
infection. Blood samples from 619 wild rabbits were collected, and questionnaires which
included variables related to host, disease, game management and environment were
completed. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the associations
between myxomatosis seropositivity (dependent variable) across 7 hunting estates and an
extensive set of explanatory variables obtained from the questionnaires.
The prevalence of antibodies against myxomatosis virus was 56.4% (95% CI: 52.5–60.3)
and ranged between 21.4% (95% CI: 9.0–33.8 ) and 70.2% (95% CI: 58.3–82.1) among the
different sampling areas. The logistic regression analysis showed that autumn (OR 9.0),
high abundance of mosquitoes (OR 8.2), reproductive activity (OR 4.1), warren’s
insecticide treatment (OR 3.7), rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) seropositivity (OR
2.6), high hunting pressure (OR 6.3) and sheep presence (OR 6.4) were associated with
seropositivity to myxomatosis. Based on the results, diverse management measures for
myxomatosis control are proposed.