Plague persists as an enzootic in several very different rodent-flea communities around the world. In California, a diversity of rodent-flea communities maintains the disease, and a single-host reservoir seems unlikely. Logistic regression of plague presence on climate and topographic variables predicts plague in many localities where it is absent. Thus, a dynamic community-based analysis was n...

Highly virulent pathogens that cause host population declines confront the risk of fade-out, but if pathogen transmission dynamics are age-structured, pathogens can persist. Among other features of amphibian biology, variable larval developmental rates generate age-structured larval populations, which in theory can facilitate pathogen persistence. We investigated this possibility empirically in...

Ferret badger-associated human rabies cases emerged in China in 1994. We used a retrospective epidemiologic survey, virus isolation, laboratory diagnosis, and nucleotide sequencing to document its reemergence in 2002-2008. Whether the cause is spillover from infected dogs or recent host shift and new reservoir establishment requires further investigation.

Organ distribution of European bat lyssavirus type 2 viral RNA in its reservoir host, Myotis daubentonii (Daubenton's bat), was measured with a novel quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay. High levels of genomic RNA were found in the brain and were also detectable in the tongue, bladder, and stomach.

To better understand the epidemiology of European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) in Europe, we phylogenetically characterized Lyssavirus from Eptesicus isabellinus bats in Spain. An independent cluster of EBLV-1 possibly resulted from geographic isolation and association with a different reservoir from other European strains. EBLV-1 phylogeny is complex and probably associated with host evolutionary...

Equine herpesvirus 9 was detected in a polar bear with progressive encephalitis; the source was traced to 2 members of a potential equid reservoir species, Grevy's zebras. The virus was also found in an aborted Persian onager. Thus, the natural host range is extended to 6 species in 3 mammalian orders.

All members of the lyssavirus genus cause the disease rabies. European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) viruses are divided genetically into three groups according to geographic location and host reservoir. We report here the first genome sequence for an EBLV-1 isolated from Eptesiscus isabellinus in the Iberian Peninsula, Spain.

Ten striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, stranded along the Costa Rican Pacific coast, had meningoencephalitis and antibodies against Brucella spp. Brucella ceti was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of 6 dolphins and 1 fetus. S. coeruleoalba constitutes a highly susceptible host and a potential reservoir for B. ceti transmission.

Many host-pathogen interactions are embedded in a web of other interspecific interactions. Recent theoretical studies have suggested that reductions in predator abundance can indirectly lead to upsurges in infectious diseases harbored by prey populations. In this note, we use simple models to show that in some circumstances, predation can actually increase the equilibrial prevalence of infectio...