title: An update on the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) strains circulating in Portugal in the 1990s: earliest detection of G3-G5 and G6.
abstract: Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) causes devastating effects on European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations in the Iberian Peninsula. According to the information available, only genogroup 1 strains were circulating in Iberian wild rabbits until 2011; the antigenic variant G6 has been sporadically detected in rabbitries since 2007. Here, we show for the first time that G3-G5 strains were already present in mainland Portugal in 1998 and that G6 has been circulating since at least 1999. Moreover, we report a G3-G5 strain from the Azores collected in 1998, which is the likely ancestor of Azorean G3-G5like strains. These observations improve the current knowledge on RHDV epidemiology in the Iberian Peninsula and the Azores.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal. analopes@cibio.up.pt.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Magalhães
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal.|Wildlife Biology Program, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA.
authors.forename: Paulo C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal.|Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada em Ciências e Tecnologias da Saúde (CESPU), Gandra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Esteves
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abrantes
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D017929:Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Rabbit / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011817:Rabbits / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Azores; Genogroup 3-5; Genogroup 6; Iberian Peninsula; Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus