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. 2025 Mar:302:110405.
doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2025.110405. Epub 2025 Jan 24.

Epidemiological surveillance of myxoma virus in European hares (Lepus europaeus) in the Iberian Peninsula: First evidence of infection by the emerging ha-MYXV

Beatriz Cardoso  1 , Sabrina Castro-Scholten  2 , Roser Velarde  3 , Salvador Rejón-Segura  2 , Remigio Martínez  2 , Ana M Lopes  4 , Lorena Pereira  5 , Kevin P Dalton  6 , Andrea Menéndez-Manjón  6 , Josep Estruch  3 , Vanesa Alzaga  7 , Jacinto Román  8 , Juan José Luque-Larena  9 , François Mougeot  10 , Carlos Rouco  11 , Ignacio García-Bocanegra  12
Affiliations

Epidemiological surveillance of myxoma virus in European hares (Lepus europaeus) in the Iberian Peninsula: First evidence of infection by the emerging ha-MYXV

Beatriz Cardoso et al. Vet Microbiol. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

We investigated the circulation of myxoma viruses (MYXV) in European hare (Lepus europaeus) populations from Spain. A total of 140 individuals were sampled through passive and active surveillance from 2018 to 2024. Myxoma virus DNA was confirmed in two out of 114 (1.8 %, CI 95 %=0.2-6.2) hares analysed by PCR. One was infected with the classic MYXV strain, and the other with the recombinant ha-MYXV strain. This is the first report of ha-MYXV infection in a European hare. A commercial indirect ELISA detected antibodies against MYXV in 3.2 % (4/126; CI 95 %=0.9-7.9) of animals tested. Both molecular and serological results suggest occasional transmissions of MYXV from sympatric European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and/or Iberian hares (Lepus granatensis) to European hares. These sporadic infections appear to be scattered across time and space, predominantly in areas where lagomorph species overlap. Because European hares appear to be immunologically naïve to MYXV, another recombination event could have a significant impact on populations, similar to what occurred with Iberian hares. This study highlights the importance of enhancing our understanding of MYXV epidemiology in wild lagomorph species through large-scale monitoring efforts.

Keywords: Lagomorphs; Myxoma virus; Myxomatosis; Spain; Species jump.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests Carlos Rouco reports financial support was provided by University of Seville. Carlos Rouco reports a relationship with University of Seville that includes: employment. Nothing to declare If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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