Recognizing the Role of Skunks in Human and Animal Rabies Exposures in the Southwest

Abstract

Rabies is arguably the most important viral zoonotic disease worldwide with an estimated 55,000 human deaths each year. Globally, dogs are the primary animals affected. In the United States, especially on the East Coast, raccoons and bats are the primary reservoir. However, in the southwestern United States, skunk and bat rabies play a large role. We describe the epidemiology and environmental risk factors associated with rabies in the US Southwest using exposure data for 2004-2012 from one Arizona county as a case study. Unlike other parts of the country, here bats and skunks are the most commonly collected positive animals (62% and 32%, respectively). Even though most of the positive animals were bats, human and domestic animal exposures were primarily a result of skunk interactions (58% and 50%, respectively). Consequently, the majority of exposures occur early in the year, January and February, when the majority of skunk pickups also occur. Using public health surveillance data, our study highlights the importance of recognizing the role of skunks in human and animal exposures in the southwestern United States. Consistent with a "One Health" approach, our data show how wildlife and domestic animal and human exposures are associated and informative to one another.

Managing Rabies Cases with a One Health Approach in Various Countries: Literature Review

“…The creation of ORV demonstrates the effectiveness of oral rabies vaccination for Serbian wildlife, which was marked by a rise in the use of vaccine baits and an increase in the vaccine's immunological response. Consequently, until 2018, there were fewer cases of rabies reported (16,18). In addition to regular monitoring for rabies in land animals, the Directorate of Veterinary Medicine of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia began conducting rabies examinations in bats in 2006.…”

On skunk rabies and its prevention in North America

“…Due to advances in molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics and notable improvements on wildlife rabies surveillance (primarily passive both laboratory-based and epidemiological), it is now known that the skunk rabies epizootic is comprised by regional independent enzootics in which RVVs with particular evolutionary histories predominate (Charlton et al, 1988;Clark et al, 2015;Kuzmina et al, 2013). The north-central skunk (NC SK), the California skunk (CA SK), the Baja California Sur Mexico skunk (BCSMX SK), the Northwest Mexico skunk (NWMX SK), and the Yucatan Mexico skunk (YUCMX SK) enzootics, maintain circulation of specific RVVs that originated from long standing dog rabies epizootics prevailing in their respective regions, Figure 1 (Barton et al, 2012;Davis et al, 2013;Kuzmina et al, 2013;Velasco-Villa et al, 2002;.…”

On skunk rabies and its prevention in North America

“…Due to advances in molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics and notable improvements on wildlife rabies surveillance (primarily passive both laboratory-based and epidemiological), it is now known that the skunk rabies epizootic is comprised by regional independent enzootics in which RVVs with particular evolutionary histories predominate ( Charlton et al, 1988 ; Clark et al, 2015 ; Kuzmina et al, 2013 ). The north-central skunk (NCSK), the California skunk (CASK), the Baja California Sur Mexico skunk (BCSMXSK), the Northwest Mexico skunk (NWMXSK) and the Yucatan Mexico skunk (YUCMXSK) enzootics maintain circulation of specific RVVs that originated from long-standing dog rabies epizootics prevailing in their respective regions, as shown in Figure 1 ( Barton & Wisely, 2012 ; Davis et al, 2013 ; Kuzmina et al, 2013 ; Velasco-Villa et al, 2002 , 2005 , 2008 , 2017 ).…”