Rabies in Sri Lanka: Splendid Isolation

Rabies virus exists in dogs on Sri Lanka as a single, minimally divergent lineage only distantly related to other rabies virus lineages in Asia. Stable, geographically isolated virus populations are susceptible to local extinction. A fully implemented rabies-control campaign could make Sri Lanka the first Asian country in >30 years to become free of rabies virus

Editorial: Special Issue “Innovative Techniques and Approaches in the Control and Prevention of Rabies Virus”

Rabies is an ancient lethal scourge that has plagued humankind for centuries. Globally, 60,000 human deaths are estimated to occur each year from rabies virus (RABV) transmission in domestic dogs, mostly affecting children. While rabies is recognized as a neglected disease, there is cause for optimism in the context of growing global recognition, collaboration and commitment to advance a tripartite agenda to eliminate human deaths transmitted from rabid dogs by 2030, also known as “Zero By Thirty” (ZBT). Nevertheless, the ZBT goal must also confront competing challenge(s) of tracking and mitigating human morbidity and mortality during a global pandemic caused by a viral zoonosis with likely origins from one or more wildlife reservoirs. In this context, the concept of One Health has never been more relevant and symbolic as demonstrated with prevention, control and elimination to end human rabies deaths through the mass vaccination of domestic and wild animal reservoir populations

Important Trends in UCP3 Investigation

Membrane uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3), a member of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein family, was discovered in 1997. UCP3′s properties, such as its high homology to other mitochondrial carriers, especially to UCP2, its short lifetime and low specificity of UCP3 antibodies, have hindered progress in understanding its biological function and transport mechanism over decades. The abundance of UCP3 is highest in murine brown adipose tissue (BAT, 15.0 pmol/mg protein), compared to heart (2.7 pmol/mg protein) and the gastrocnemius muscle (1.7 pmol/mg protein), but it is still 400-fold lower than the abundance of UCP1, a biomarker for BAT. Investigation of UCP3 reconstituted in planar bilayer membranes revealed that it transports protons only when activated by fatty acids (FA). Although purine nucleotides (PN) inhibit UCP3-mediated transport, the molecular mechanism differs from that of UCP1. It remains a conundrum that two homologous proton-transporting proteins exist within the same tissue. Recently, we proposed that UCP3 abundance directly correlates with the degree of FA β-oxidation in cell metabolism. Further development in this field implies that UCP3 may have dual function in transporting substrates, which have yet to be identified, alongside protons. Evaluation of the literature with respect to UCP3 is a complex task because (i) UCP3 features are often extrapolated from its “twin” UCP2 without additional proof, and (ii) the specificity of antibodies against UCP3 used in studies is rarely evaluated. In this review, we primarily focus on recent findings obtained for UCP3 in biological and biomimetic systems

Not all surveillance data are created equal—A multi‐method dynamic occupancy approach to determine rabies elimination from wildlife

1. A necessary component of elimination programmes for wildlife disease is effective surveillance. The ability to distinguish between disease freedom and non‐detection can mean the difference between a successful elimination campaign and new epizootics. Understanding the contribution of different surveillance methods helps to optimize and better allocate effort and develop more effective surveillance programmes. 2. We evaluated the probability of rabies virus elimination (disease freedom) in an enzootic area with active management using dynamic occupancy modelling of 10 years of raccoon rabies virus (RABV) surveillance data (2006–2015) collected from three states in the eastern United States. We estimated detection probability of RABV cases for each surveillance method (e.g. strange acting reports, roadkill, surveillance‐trapped animals, nuisance animals and public health samples) used by the USDA National Rabies Management Program. 3. Strange acting, found dead and public health animals were the most likely to detect RABV when it was present, and generally detectability was higher in fall– winter compared to spring–summer. Found dead animals in fall–winter had the highest detection at 0.33 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.48). Nuisance animals had the lowest detection probabilities (~0.02). 4. Areas with oral rabies vaccination (ORV) management had reduced occurrence probability compared to enzootic areas without ORV management. RABV occurrence was positively associated with deciduous and mixed forests and medium to high developed areas, which are also areas with higher raccoon (Procyon lotor) densities. By combining occupancy and detection estimates we can create a probability of elimination surface that can be updated seasonally to provide guidance on areas managed for wildlife disease. 5. Synthesis and applications. Wildlife disease surveillance is often comprised of a combination of targeted and convenience‐based methods. Using a multi‐method analytical approach allows us to compare the relative strengths of these methods, providing guidance on resource allocation for surveillance actions. Applying this multi‐method approach in conjunction with dynamic occupancy analyses better informs management decisions by understanding ecological drivers of disease occurrence

Making FORS2 fit for exoplanet observations (again)

For about three years, it was known that precision spectrophotometry with FORS2 suffered from systematic errors that made quantitative observations of planetary transits impossible. We identified the Longitudinal Atmospheric Dispersion Compensator (LADC) as the most likely culprit, and therefore engaged in a project to exchange the LADC prisms with the uncoated ones from FORS1. This led to a significant improvement in the depth of FORS2 zero points, a reduction in the systematic noise, and should make FORS2 again competitive for transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets.Comment: To appear in the March issue of the ESO Messenge