About This Project

Distemper is a contagious frequently lethal disease that threatens many wild mammals, including endangered species. Disease presentation is very diverse, which might be due to the reported mutations in the viral proteins. We hypothesize that mutations in the proteins are related to differential binding to specific tissues in different species. This project will provide critical information for understanding the evolution and impact of distemper in wildlife.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Distemper is a potentially lethal viral disease of global distribution that affects many mammals, especially carnivores. Distemper has negatively impacted populations of endangered species such as black-footed ferrets and Santa Catalina island foxes and has the potential to spread to many other species. Reports of the disease in wildlife are common and there is an increasing number of different strains. The possible variation in clinical disease that may be presented by emerging strains has not been studied experimentally. Understanding the manner in which the virus impacts the body is crucial to managing the disease and susceptible populations. This could be through better management of populations or mitigation of human factors in disease transmission to naive populations.

What is the significance of this project?

Canine distemper virus (CDV) can cause severe, lethal disease in many species of wild carnivores, which can have effects in entire populations, as seen in the Serengeti lions. Despite the development of a vaccine for domestic dogs, the disease is far from controlled among wildlife populations, probably due to the existence of reservoirs of the disease. As predators, carnivores are an important regulator of ecosystems and maintaining a healthy population is needed to maintain ecological balance. This project will improve our understanding of the susceptibility of wildlife species to different CDV variants and the expected clinical presentation, allowing the development of better surveillance for early detection of outbreaks and policies for the protection of specific populations at risk.

What are the goals of the project?

We will examine eleven isolates of CDV from naturally occurring cases in the USA. After we have characterized the protein variations between the different isolates, we plan to study the ability of each isolate to bind the tissues of dog, raccoon and gray fox. We will use archived tissue samples from healthy individuals to quantify intensity of binding to each tissue and species and correlate this tissue binding to the clinical presentation of the disease and mutations in viral proteins. We hope to identify critical mutations of CDV that define viral tropism and will help us understand disease outbreaks and predict disease presentation in the wild. Once the results are published, they could ultimately help identify at risk populations and guide targeted management of populations.