Abstract:
In South Africa, canid rabies virus (RABV) infection is maintained in domestic and wildlife
species. The identification of rabies in African civets raised the question of whether this wildlife
carnivore is a potential reservoir host of RABVs of direct and ancestral dog origin (dog-maintained
and dog-derived origins) with an independent cycle of transmission. Genetic analyses of African
civet nucleoprotein sequences for 23 African civet RABVs and historically published sequences
demonstrated that RABVs from African civets have two origins related to dog and mongoose
rabies enzootics. The data support observations of the interaction of civets with domestic dogs and
wildlife mongooses, mostly in Northern South Africa and North-East Zimbabwe. Within each host
species clade, African civet RABVs group exclusively together, implying intra-species virus transfer
occurs readily. The canid RABV clade appears to support virus transfer more readily between hosts
than mongoose RABVs. Furthermore, these data probably indicate short transmission chains with
conspecifics that may be related to transient rabies maintenance in African civets. Hence, it is important
to continue monitoring the emergence of lyssaviruses in this host. Observations from this study are
supported by ongoing and independent similar cases, in which bat-eared foxes and black-backed
jackal species maintain independent rabies cycles of what were once dog-maintained RABVs.
