Lopes AM, Magalhães MJ, Alves PC, Esteves PJ, Abrantes J. An update on the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) strains circulating in Portugal in the 1990s: earliest detection of G3-G5 and G6.
Arch Virol 2017;
162:2061-2065. [PMID:
28299483 DOI:
10.1007/s00705-017-3318-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) causes devastating effects on European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations in the Iberian Peninsula. According to the information available, only genogroup 1 strains were circulating in Iberian wild rabbits until 2011; the antigenic variant G6 has been sporadically detected in rabbitries since 2007. Here, we show for the first time that G3-G5 strains were already present in mainland Portugal in 1998 and that G6 has been circulating since at least 1999. Moreover, we report a G3-G5 strain from the Azores collected in 1998, which is the likely ancestor of Azorean G3-G5like strains. These observations improve the current knowledge on RHDV epidemiology in the Iberian Peninsula and the Azores.
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