Emergency rabies control in a community of two high-density hosts

The model confirmed that both fox and badger populations, separately, were competent hosts for the spread of rabies. Realistic vaccination levels were not sufficient to control rabies in high-density badger populations. The combined species community was a very strong rabies host. However, disease spread within species appeared to be more important than cross-species infection. Thus, the drivers of epidemiology depend on the potential of separate host species to sustain the disease. To control a rabies outbreak in the two species, both species had to be targeted. Realistic and robust control strategies involved vaccination of foxes and badgers, but also required badger culling. Although fox and badger populations in the UK are exceptionally dense, an outbreak of rabies can be controlled with a higher than 90% chance, if control response is quick and follows a strict regime. This requires surveillance and forceful and repeated control campaigns. In contrast, an uncontrolled rabies outbreak in the South of England would quickly develop into a strong epizootic involving tens of thousands of rabid foxes and badgers.If populations of both host species are sufficiently large, epizootics are driven by within-species transmission, while cross-species-infection appears to be of minor importance. Thus, the disease control strategy has to target both host populations.The management of multi-host infections requires that the true one or two species maintenance host(s) are identified [1], which can be difficult even for well-known diseases such as rabies [2], and will depend on the density of both host species. Rabies is a fatal viral disease that affects mammalian carnivores [3] and is a multi-host disease throughout the world [4]. In Europe, the red fox Vulpes vulpes (L.) is considered the major rabies reservoir, but the invasive raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides (Gray) becomes an important part of the reservoir as its density increases [5] and is the second most common wil