| 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 |
| host condition and individual risk of cowpox virus infection in natural animal populations: cause or effect? | recent studies have provided evidence that endemic pathogens may affect dynamics in animals. however, such studies have not typically considered that infected individuals might have a preceding underlying poor condition. we examined whether individuals in poor condition are more likely to become infected by an endemic pathogen, using as a system the dynamics of cowpox virus in field voles. with data from monthly sampled vole populations, a nested case-control study evaluated whether susceptible ... | 2009 | 19144246 |
| 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 |
| disease dynamics in cyclic populations of field voles (microtus agrestis): cowpox virus and vole tuberculosis (mycobacterium microti). | the possible role of pathogens in rodent population cycles has been largely neglected since elton's 'epidemic hypothesis' of 1931. to revisit this question, 12 adjacent, cyclic but out-of-phase populations of field voles (microtus agrestis) in north east england were studied and the initial results are presented here. the prevalences of antibodies to cowpox virus and of clinical signs of mycobacterium microti infection (vole tuberculosis) showed delayed (not direct) density dependence (with a la ... | 2004 | 15255106 |
| 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 |
| cowpox in british voles and mice. | serosurveys indicate that bank voles, field voles and woodmice are probably reservoir hosts of cowpox virus in western europe, although virus has not yet been isolated from these species. in this study, bank voles, field voles, woodmice and laboratory mice were shown to be susceptible to combined intradermal and subcutaneous inoculation with 3-20 plaque-forming units (pfu) of cowpox virus. bank and field voles, but not laboratory mice, were also susceptible to combined oral and nasal inoculation ... | 1997 | 9076598 |
| 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 |
| effects of abundance on infection in natural populations: field voles and cowpox virus. | detailed results on the dynamics of cowpox virus infection in four natural populations of the field vole, microtus agrestis, are presented. populations were sampled every 4 weeks (8 weeks in mid-winter) for 6 years. the purpose was to examine the relationships between overall or susceptible host abundance (n, s) and both the number of infected hosts (i) and the prevalence of infection (i/n). overall, both i and i/n increased with n. however, evidence for a threshold abundance, below which infect ... | 2009 | 21352750 |
| 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 |
| seasonal host dynamics drive the timing of recurrent epidemics in a wildlife population. | the seasonality of recurrent epidemics has been largely neglected, especially where patterns are not driven by forces external to the population. here, we use data on cowpox virus in field voles to explore the seasonal patterns in wildlife (variable abundance) populations and compare these with patterns previously found in humans. timing in our system was associated with both the number and the rate of recruitment of susceptible hosts. a plentiful and sustained supply of susceptible hosts throug ... | 2009 | 19203924 |
| cowpox virus infection in natural field vole microtus agrestis populations: significant negative impacts on survival. | 1. cowpox virus is an endemic virus circulating in populations of wild rodents. it has been implicated as a potential cause of population cycles in field voles microtus agrestis l., in britain, owing to a delayed density-dependent pattern in prevalence, but its impact on field vole demographic parameters is unknown. this study tests the hypothesis that wild field voles infected with cowpox virus have a lower probability of survival than uninfected individuals. 2. the effect of cowpox virus infec ... | 2008 | 18177331 |
| disease effects on reproduction can cause population cycles in seasonal environments. | 1. recent studies of rodent populations have demonstrated that certain parasites can cause juveniles to delay maturation until the next reproductive season. furthermore, a variety of parasites may share the same host, and evidence is beginning to accumulate showing nonindependent effects of different infections. 2. we investigated the consequences for host population dynamics of a disease-induced period of no reproduction, and a chronic reduction in fecundity following recovery from infection (s ... | 2008 | 18005128 |
| cowpox virus infection in natural field vole microtus agrestis populations: delayed density dependence and individual risk. | 1. little is known about the dynamics of pathogen (microparasite) infection in wildlife populations, and less still about sources of variation in the risk of infection. here we present the first detailed analysis of such variation. 2. cowpox virus is an endemic sublethal pathogen circulating in populations of wild rodents. cowpox prevalence was monitored longitudinally for 2 years, in populations of field voles exhibiting multiannual cycles of density in kielder forest, uk. 3. the probability th ... | 2006 | 17032374 |