TY - JOUR AU - Trewby, Hannah AU - Nadin-Davis, Susan AU - Real, Leslie AU - Biek, Roman T1 - Processes Underlying Rabies Virus Incursions across US–Canada Border as Revealed by Whole-Genome Phylogeography T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2017 VL - 23 IS - 9 SP - 1454 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Disease control programs aim to constrain and reduce the spread of infection. Human disease interventions such as wildlife vaccination play a major role in determining the limits of a pathogen’s spatial distribution. Over the past few decades, a raccoon-specific variant of rabies virus (RRV) has invaded large areas of eastern North America. Although expansion into Canada has been largely prevented through vaccination along the US border, several outbreaks have occurred in Canada. Applying phylogeographic approaches to 289 RRV whole-genome sequences derived from isolates collected in Canada and adjacent US states, we examined the processes underlying these outbreaks. RRV incursions were attributable predominantly to systematic virus leakage of local strains across areas along the border where vaccination has been conducted but also to single stochastic events such as long-distance translocations. These results demonstrate the utility of phylogeographic analysis of pathogen genomes for understanding transboundary outbreaks. KW - raccoon KW - rabies virus KW - phylogeography KW - transboundary outbreaks KW - whole-genome sequencing KW - wildlife disease KW - spatial epidemiology KW - viruses KW - zoonoses KW - Canada KW - United States KW - raccoon rabies virus KW - rabies DO - 10.3201/eid2309.170325 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/9/17-0325_article ER - End of Reference