Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;8(3):e58739.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058739. Epub 2013 Mar 20.

Complete genome and molecular epidemiological data infer the maintenance of rabies among kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in Namibia

Terence P Scott  1 , Melina Fischer, Siegfried Khaiseb, Conrad Freuling, Dirk Höper, Bernd Hoffmann, Wanda Markotter, Thomas Müller, Louis H Nel
Affiliations

Complete genome and molecular epidemiological data infer the maintenance of rabies among kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in Namibia

Terence P Scott et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Rabies in kudu is unique to Namibia and two major peaks in the epizootic have occurred since it was first noted in 1977. Due to the large numbers of kudu that were affected, it was suspected that horizontal transmission of rabies occurs among kudu and that rabies was being maintained independently within the Namibian kudu population - separate from canid cycles, despite geographic overlap. In this study, it was our aim to show, through phylogenetic analyses, that rabies was being maintained independently within the Namibian kudu population. We also tested, through complete genome sequencing of four rabies virus isolates from jackal and kudu, whether specific mutations occurred in the virus genome due to host adaptation. We found the separate grouping of all rabies isolates from kudu to those of any other canid species in Namibia, suggesting that rabies was being maintained independently in kudu. Additionally, we noted several mutations unique to isolates from kudu, suggesting that these mutations may be due to the adaptation of rabies to a new host. In conclusion, we show clear evidence that rabies is being maintained independently in the Namibian kudu population - a unique phenomenon with ecological and economic impacts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Dr. Wanda Markotter is a member of the PLOS ONE editorial board. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Kudu and jackal sample origins.
Numbers and locations of all rabies virus samples used in the partial sequencing analysis of this study from kudu (green) and jackal (red). The size of the dot increases with the number of samples from each location.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Partial N gene phylogenetic analysis.
Neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree with 1000 bootstrap replications of partial RABV nucleoprotein gene sequences generated in this study as well as representative sequences from South Africa and Namibia. Pasteur virus was used as an outgroup. Samples labeled as follows: Isolate number, species, country, region, and year. Ku = kudu; J = Jackal; Dg = Dog; Bef = Bat-eared fox; El = Eland; SA = South Africa; N = Namibia; B = Botswana; Grtfntn = Grootfontein; NK = Not known.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Complete genome phylogenetic analysis.
Neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree with 1000 bootstrap replicates, constructed using the Kimura 2-parameter model, of RABV full genomes sequenced in this study (bold branches) as well as RABV full genomes available on GenBank.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bourhy H, Kissi B, Audry L, Smreczak M, Sadkowska-Todys M, et al. (1999) Ecology and evolution of rabies virus in Europe. The Journal of General Virology 80 (Pt 10: 2545–2557. - PubMed
    1. Beck AM, Felser SR, Glickman LT (1987) An epizootic of rabies in Maryland, 1982–84. American Journal of Public Health 77: 42–44. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnard B, Hassel R (1981) Rabies in kudus (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in South West Africa/Namibia. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 52: 309–314. - PubMed
    1. Petersen B, Tack D, Longenberger A (2012) Rabies in Captive deer, Pennsylvania, USA, 2007–2010. Emerging infectious 18 2007–2010 Available:http://www.newjumbo.info/go/nph-go.cgi/000010A/http/wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/ar.... Accessed 19 April 2012. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nel L, Rupprecht C (2007) Emergence of Lyssaviruses in the Old World: The Case of Africa. In: Childs JE, Mackenzie JS, Richt JA, editors. Wildlife and Emerging Zoonotic Diseases: The Biology, Circumstances and Consequences of Cross-Species Transmission. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Vol. 315 . pp. 161–193. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-70962-6_8. - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding

TS, WM and LHN would like to thank the National Research Foundation for funding. MF, BH, CF, DH and TM would like to thank the German federal ministry for education and research (BMBF, grant 01KI1016A) for funding. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.