de Villiers M S, Meltzer D G, van Heerden J, Mills M G, Richardson P R, van Jaarsveld A S
Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Proc Biol Sci. 1995 Nov 22;262(1364):215-20. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1995.0198.
Recently it was suggested that the handling of wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) by researchers in the Serengeti ecosystem created stress, resulting in the reactivation of latent rabies viruses in carrier animals. We present data from ongoing studies on free-ranging and captive wild dogs elsewhere in Africa which do not support this hypothesis. Cortisol profiles suggest that immobilization of wild dogs does not cause the chronic stress required for stress-reactivation of latent viruses. Furthermore, there is no evidence of handling-related mortalities in wild dogs: the survivorship of unhandled and handled free-ranging wild dogs did not differ and no captive animals died within a year of handling (immobilization and/or vaccination against rabies). We suggest that the mortalities observed in Tanzania were due to an outbreak of a disease which rabies vaccination was unable to prevent. Intensive monitoring and active management research programmes on wild dogs are essential as without these, critically endangered wild dog populations have little hope of survival.
最近有人提出，塞伦盖蒂生态系统中的研究人员对野狗（非洲野犬）的处理造成了压力，导致携带病毒的动物体内潜伏的狂犬病病毒重新激活。我们提供了来自非洲其他地区对自由放养和圈养野狗正在进行的研究数据，这些数据并不支持这一假设。皮质醇水平表明，对野狗的固定不会导致潜伏病毒因压力重新激活所需的慢性压力。此外，没有证据表明野狗存在与处理相关的死亡情况：未处理和经过处理的自由放养野狗的存活率没有差异，并且没有圈养动物在处理（固定和/或狂犬病疫苗接种）后一年内死亡。我们认为，在坦桑尼亚观察到的死亡是由一种狂犬病疫苗无法预防的疾病爆发所致。对野狗进行密集监测和积极管理研究计划至关重要，因为没有这些，极度濒危的野狗种群几乎没有生存的希望。
