Rabies Cases in the West of China Have Two Distinct Origins.
In China, rabies remains an ongoing threat to public health. Although control efforts have been effective in reducing the number of annual cases, the virus continues to spread into new areas. Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia in western China have, until recently, reported only a handful of events. However, since 2011, there have been increasing numbers of cases recorded in these areas. In this study, we report the collection and analysis of samples collected from these regions. We find that cases originate from two different sources. Strains collected from Gansu and Ningxia are closely related to the primary lineage associated with the current epizootic, whereas those from Tibet and Qinghai are related to the Arctic-like-2 lineage that is most commonly associated with wildlife cases in China. Thus, it appears that while the epizootic is beginning to encroach into Gansu and Ningxia, Tibet and Qinghai a significant number of rabies cases originate from wildlife.
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Xiao-Yan
XY
Tao
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Zhen-Yang
ZY
Guo
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Hao
H
Li
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Wen-Tao
WT
Jiao
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Xin-Xin
XX
Shen
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Wu-Yang
WY
Zhu
Department of Medical Genetics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Simon
S
Rayner
State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Qing
Q
Tang
D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004285:Dogs; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058974:Phylogeography; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D012367:RNA, Viral