What is it about?
Discovery of a Benign Rabbit Calicivirus in New Zealand It has long been suspected that benign rabbit caliciviruses (RCVs) are present in wild rabbits in New Zealand and may provide cross-protection against the rabbit biocontrol agent rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). Nicholson et al. (e00090-17) provide serological evidence that RCVs are indeed widespread in New Zealand and describe two RCV variants that are most closely related to the Australian RCVs.
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Why is it important?
The discovery of RCVs in New Zealand is important considering their potential impact on the efficacy of existing and new RHDV strains as biocontrol agents for the control of rabbits in that country.
Perspectives
For many years we have suspected that a benign rabbit calicivirus was present in wild rabbit populations in New Zealand but no one had ever been able to isolate the virus. Now we have a better understanding of where the RCV came from and when it arrived and are exploring its effect on animal health, routes of transmission and possible impacts on the effectiveness on the rabbit biocontrol agent, rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). There are likely to be other strains of RCV circulating in the wild rabbit populations and still a lot more to be learnt about rabbit caliciviruses, their impacts and evolution.
Janine Duckworth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Benign Rabbit Calicivirus in New Zealand, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2017, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/aem.00090-17.
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