Publications

serological evidence for the reservoir hosts of cowpox virus in british wildlife.	the reservoir host of cowpox virus in western europe is not known, but epidemiological evidence from human and feline infections indicates that the virus is probably endemic in small wild rodents. therefore, serum and tissue samples were collected from a variety of wild british mammals and some birds, and tested for evidence of orthopoxvirus infection. antibody reacting with cowpox virus was detected in 9/44 (20%) bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus), 8/24 (33%) field voles (microtus agrestis), ...	1995	7641833
the effect of cowpox virus infection on fecundity in bank voles and wood mice.	although epidemic infectious diseases are a recognized cause of changes in host population dynamics, there is little direct evidence for the effect of endemic infections on populations. cowpox virus is an orthopoxvirus which is endemic in bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus), wood mice (apodemus sylvaticus) and field voles (microtus agrestis) in great britain. it does not cause obvious signs of disease nor does it affect survival, but in this study we demonstrate experimentally that it can reduc ...	1997	9364786
naturally occurring orthopoxviruses: potential for recombination with vaccine vectors.	orthopoxviruses are being increasingly used as live recombinant vectors for vaccination against numerous infectious diseases in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. for risk assessments and surveillance, information about the occurrence, distribution and ecology of orthopoxviruses in western europe is important but has mainly been based on serological investigations. we have examined kidneys, lungs, spleens, and livers of norwegian small rodents and common shrews (sorex araneus) for the prese ...	1998	9705389
transmission dynamics of a zoonotic pathogen within and between wildlife host species.	the transmission dynamics of the cowpox virus infection have been quantified in two mixed populations of bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus) and wood mice (apodemus sylvaticus), through analyses of detailed time-series of the numbers of susceptible, infectious and newly infected individuals. the cowpox virus is a zoonosis which circulates in these rodent hosts and has been shown to have an adverse effect on reproductive output. the transmission dynamics within species is best described as frequ ...	1999	10584336
cowpox: reservoir hosts and geographic range.	it is generally accepted that the reservoir hosts of cowpox virus are wild rodents, although direct evidence for this is lacking for much of the virus's geographic range. here, through a combination of serology and pcr, we demonstrate conclusively that the main hosts in great britain are bank voles, wood mice and short-tailed field voles. however, we also suggest that wood mice may not be able to maintain infection alone, explaining the absence of cowpox from ireland where voles are generally no ...	1999	10459650
serological survey for viral pathogens in turkish rodents.	wild rodents (n = 330) were trapped around the villages of altindere and coşandere (maçka, trabzon province), ayder, ortan, and yolkiyi (camlihemşin, rize province), and bozdag (odemiş, izmir province) in northeastern and western turkey during april 2004. samples were tested for arenavirus, hantavirus, and cowpox virus (family poxviridae, genus orthopoxvirus, cpxv) antibodies by using immunofluorescence assays (ifas). antibodies against arenaviruses were found in eight of 330 (2.4%) rodents. are ...	2006	17092901
patterns of orthopox virus wild rodent hosts in south germany.	although cowpox virus (cpxv) infections in a variety of dead-end hosts have been investigated in germany for more than 50 years, data on species and geographical distribution of cpxv in reservoir hosts are sparse. here we present the first comprehensive study of 825 rodents that have been collected in bavaria, southern germany. in summary, six different rodent species (apodemus flavicollis, myodes glareolus, microtus arvalis, apodemus sylvaticus, microtus agrestis, and arvicola amphibius) were t ...	2009	19492947
host and viral traits predict zoonotic spillover from mammals.	the majority of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, with viruses that originate in wild mammals of particular concern (for example, hiv, ebola and sars). understanding patterns of viral diversity in wildlife and determinants of successful cross-species transmission, or spillover, are therefore key goals for pandemic surveillance programs. however, few analytical tools exist to identify which host species are likely to harbour the next human virus, or which viruses can cross species ...	2017	28636590