How to translate text using browser tools
8 July 2024 A Canine Distemper Outbreak in Urban Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Brussels, Belgium, 2020
Paul Tavernier, Marco van de Bildt, Thijs Kuiken, Koen Van Den Berge, Hilde De Cock, Sanne Terryn, Ben Van der Wijden, Olivier Beck
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Canine distemper has been observed infrequently in Belgian wildlife, mainly stone martens (Martes foina) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). This report describes an outbreak in the Brussels urban red fox population, characterized by its high density. The identified virus matched those within a cluster of viruses found previously in red foxes in Germany. Different canine distemper virus (CDV) strains, found in Belgian wild carnivores, share relationships with viruses found farther east. This and other reports indicate an endemic distribution of CDV in wild carnivores in Europe whereby the complex interplay of population density, group immunity, and infection of metapopulations determines the pattern of spatiotemporally alternating outbreaks.

Paul Tavernier, Marco van de Bildt, Thijs Kuiken, Koen Van Den Berge, Hilde De Cock, Sanne Terryn, Ben Van der Wijden, and Olivier Beck "A Canine Distemper Outbreak in Urban Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Brussels, Belgium, 2020," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 60(3), 753-757, (8 July 2024). https://doi.org/10.7589/JWD-D-23-00157
Received: 2 October 2023; Accepted: 2 April 2024; Published: 8 July 2024
KEYWORDS
CDV
distemper
group immunity
metapopulations
population density
red fox
urban
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top