Myxomatosis

For the Radiohead song, see Hail to the Thief.

Not to be confused with Myxoma.

European Rabbit in Shropshire, England, infected with myxomatosis, caused by the myxoma virus

Myxomatosis (sometimes shortened to "myxo" or "myxy") is a disease that affects rabbits and is caused by the myxoma virus. It was first observed in Uruguay in laboratory rabbits in the late 19th century. It was introduced into Australia in 1950 in an attempt to control the rabbit population. (See Rabbits in Australia.)

Effects of the disease

Skin tumours on rabbit with myxomatosis

In rabbits of the genus Sylvilagus (cottontail rabbits) living in the Americas, myxomatosis only causes localized skin tumors, but the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is more severely affected. At first, normally the disease is visible by lumps (myxomata) and puffiness around the head and genitals. It then may progress to acute conjunctivitis and possibly blindness; however, this also may be the first indication of the disease. The rabbits become listless, lose appetite, and develop a fever. Secondary bacterial infections occur in most cases which cause pneumonia and purulent inflammation of the lungs. In cases where the rabbit has little or no resistance, death may take place rapidly, often in as little as 48 hours; most cases result in death within 14 days.

Treatment

In pet rabbits, myxomatosis can be misdiagnosed as pasteurellosis, a bacterial infection which can be treated with antibiotics. By contrast, at this writing, there is no treatment for rabbits suffering myxomatosis, other than palliative care to ease the suffering of individual animals, and the treatment of secondary and opportunistic infections, in the hopes the treated animal will survive. In practice, the owner is often urged to euthanize the animal to ease its suffering.

Spread of the disease

After its discovery in 1896 in imported rabbits in Uruguay, a relatively harmless strain spread quickly throughout the wild populations in South America.

Rabbits around a waterhole in the myxomatosis trial site on Wardang Island in 1938

In Australia, the virus was first field-tested for population control in 1938. A full-scale release was performed in 1950. It was devastatingly effective, reducing the estimated rabbit population from 600 million to 100 million in two years. However, the rabbits remaining alive were those least affected by the disease. Genetic resistance to myxomatosis was observed soon after the first release and most rabbits acquired partial immunity in the first two decades. Resistance has been increasing slowly since the 1970s, and the disease now only kills about 50% of infected rabbits. In an attempt to increase that number, a second virus (rabbit calicivirus) was introduced into the rabbit population in 1996.

Controversially, myxomatosis was introduced to France by the bacteriologist Dr. Paul Armand Delille, following his use of the virus to rid his private estate of rabbits in June 1952 (He inoculated two of the rabbits on his land). Within four months the virus had spread 50 km; Armand suspected this was due to poachers taking infected rabbits from his estate. By 1954, 90% of the wild rabbits in France were dead. The disease spread throughout Europe. It reached the UK in 1953, being illegally imported onto an estate in West Sussex. Some in the UK deliberately spread the disease, placing sick rabbits in burrows, while many others deplored the cruelty and suffering. The government refused to legislate to make deliberate spread of the disease illegal. By 1955, about 95% of rabbits in the UK were dead. Rabbits suffering in the last stages of the disease, commonly called "mixy" or "myxie" rabbits, are still a common sight in the UK^{[citation needed]}. Unfortunately, the disease has wider consequences apart from the death of rabbits. The Spanish Imperial Eagle and the Iberian Lynx, among others, are now almost extinct because the decline of the rabbit population, which is about 80% of their diets, has caused mass starvation. It is not uncommon for shooters to specifically target infected rabbits, viewing the act as being merciful. However, in 2005 the UK Land Registry conducted a survey of 16,000 hectares of its land and reported that the rabbit population had increased three-fold every two years – likely a product of increasing genetic resistance to the virus.

Myxomatosis is spread by direct contact with an affected animal or by being bitten by fleas or mosquitoes that have fed on an infected rabbit. The myxomatosis virus does not replicate in these insect hosts, but can be physically carried by an insect's mouthparts, i.e. from an infected rabbit to another susceptible animal. Due to the potential of insect vector transmission, pet rabbits may be susceptible in enzootic areas and vaccination is highly recommended.

Use of vaccine

A vaccine is available for pet rabbits (ATCvet code: QI08AD02), The vaccine is not allowed to be used in Australia because the live virus in the vaccine has the potential to spread into the wild rabbit population which could result in wild rabbit immunity to myxomatosis. If this happened, there would be a dramatic increase in the number of wild rabbits in Australia, which would cause major damage to the environment and economic losses. Many pet rabbits in Australia continue to die from the disease due to their lack of immunity. There is at least one campaign to allow the vaccine for domestic pets.

In the UK a live combination vaccine, Nobivac Myxo-RHD, made by MSD Animal Health, has recently become available. Its active ingredient is a live myxoma-vectored RHD virus strain 009 and it offers a duration of immunity of 1 year against both RHD and myxomatosis.

Natural resistance

The development of resistance to the disease seems to have taken different courses. In Australia, the virus initially killed rabbits very quickly, about 4 days after infection. This gave little time for the infection to spread. However, a less virulent form of the virus has become prevalent there, spreading more effectively by being less lethal. In Europe, many rabbits are genetically resistant to the original virus that was spread. The survival rate of diseased rabbits has now increased to 35% when in the 1950s it was near zero.^{[citation needed]}

Hares are not affected by the myxomatosis virus but can still be hosts of the flea vector.

Cultural references

• The English poet Philip Larkin wrote a poem entitled "Myxomatosis", which was published in the 1955 volume The Less Deceived.
• The fourth episode of the 1981 English TV series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy features the character of Slartybartfast mistakenly referring to mice dying of myxomatosis, though the disease infects rabbits, not mice.
• The English punk band Flux Of Pink Indians recorded a song called "Myxomatosis" for their 1983 Album Strive to Survive Causing the Least Suffering Possible.
• The Australian children's television show The Ferals featured a rabbit character whose name was Mixy.
• In the novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit by Russell Braddon, the Australian Prime Minister attempts to develop "supermyxomatosis" in order to kill off a second rabbit infestation. It ends up turning the rabbits into carnivorous plague carriers instead. The novel was adapted into the film Night of the Lepus.
• In an old Zipi y Zape cartoon, two rabbits run away from the titular characters, with one stating "Those two are worse than myxomatosis.".
• English comedian Spike Milligan wrote a quatrain entitled "Myxomatosis" in 1971.
• In her memoir Bad Blood, the Welsh writer Lorna Sage gives a firsthand account of the 1953 spread of myxomatosis among rabbits in Hanmer, Wales.
• The band Radiohead recorded a song titled "Myxomatosis" appearing on their 2003 album Hail to the Thief, with lyrics including "I twitch and salivate like with myxomatosis".
• In the book Watership Down, the characters refer to myxomatosis as "white blindness".
• In his song "Donnie Darko", the comedian Tim Minchin rhymes "Myxomatosis" with "Psychosis".
• The Fast Show's Chanel 9 translates the number 12 as Myxomatosis- a compound of "Myxa", meaning two, and "matosis" apparently meaning "teen"- in a sketch parodying lottery draw programmes. This, however, is contradicted by a sketch parodying televised awards ceremonies, which translates it as "Twelf".
• The glam-rock band T. Rex references myxomatosis in the song Left Hand Luke from their 1973 album Tanx.
• The Poet Char March named a poem Myxi about a rabbit in her collection The Thousand Natural Shocks (2012).

External links

• An interview with Frank Fenner
• Coalition against Myxomatosis – an organisation campaigning for legalization of vaccine in Australia.
• Society & Animals Journal of Human-Animal Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, 2001
• [2] Possible windborne spread of myxomatosis to England in 1953