We ended our myxoma virus episode on a bit of a cliffhanger, briefly alluding to the emergence of another deadly rabbit virus on the global scene. In this follow-up bonus episode, we take a closer look at this recent arrival, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), and what its rapid spread around the world has meant for both invasive European rabbits in Australia as well as native rabbit species around the world. Dr. Robyn Hall (@virologica), veterinary virologist, epidemiologist, and Team Leader of the Rabbit Biocontrol Team at CSIRO in Australia, walks us through how this virus earned the nickname “bunny Ebola”, where it seems to be having the most impact, and what the sudden appearance of a new type of RHDV has taught us about viral evolution and ecological cascades. Then, once we fill up on RHDV facts, we talk favorite viruses, life as a veterinary virologist, and so much more! Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. 

And if you’d like to read more about RHDV, check out this selection of articles:

• Lab webpage: https://research.csiro.au/rhdv/
• Mahar, Jackie E., et al. “Frequent intergenotypic recombination between the non-structural and structural genes is a major driver of epidemiological fitness in caliciviruses.” Virus Evolution 7.2 (2021): veab080.
• Neave, Matthew J., et al. “Robust innate immunity of young rabbits mediates resistance to rabbit hemorrhagic disease caused by lagovirus europaeus GI. 1 but not GI. 2.” Viruses 10.9 (2018): 512.
• Marques, Raquel M., et al. “Immunosuppression abrogates resistance of young rabbits to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD).” Veterinary research 45.1 (2014): 1-6.
• Hall, Robyn N., et al. “Age and infectious dose significantly affect disease progression after RHDV2 infection in naïve domestic rabbits.” Viruses 13.6 (2021): 1184.
• Hall, Robyn N., et al. “Passive Immunisation against RHDV2 Induces Protection against Disease but Not Infection.” Vaccines 9.10 (2021): 1197.
• Calvete, Carlos, et al. “Changes in European wild rabbit population dynamics and the epidemiology of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) in response to artificially increased viral transmission.” Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (2021).
• Mahar, Jackie E., et al. “Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2; GI. 2) is replacing endemic strains of RHDV in the Australian landscape within 18 months of its arrival.” Journal of virology 92.2 (2018): e01374-17.
• Pedler, Reece D., et al. “Rabbit biocontrol and landscape‐scale recovery of threatened desert mammals.” Conservation Biology 30.4 (2016): 774-782.
• Monterroso, Pedro, et al. “Disease-mediated bottom-up regulation: An emergent virus affects a keystone prey, and alters the dynamics of trophic webs.” Scientific Reports 6.1 (2016): 1-9.
• Ramsey, David SL, et al. “Emerging RHDV2 suppresses the impact of endemic and novel strains of RHDV on wild rabbit populations.” Journal of Applied Ecology 57.3 (2020): 630-641.
• Esteves, Pedro Jose, et al. “Emergence of pathogenicity in lagoviruses: evolution from pre-existing nonpathogenic strains or through a species jump?.” PLoS pathogens 11.11 (2015): e1005087.
• Kerr, Peter J., Andrew Kitchen, and Edward C. Holmes. “Origin and phylodynamics of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus.” Journal of virology 83.23 (2009): 12129-12138.
• Rouco, Carlos, et al. “Worldwide rapid spread of the novel rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (GI. 2/RHDV2/b).” Transboundary and emerging diseases 66.4 (2019): 1762-1764.