The Next Chapter in a Viral Arms Race
A highly lethal disease that controlled Australia’s rabbit problem initially evolved to be milder—but has since rebounded into a newly nasty form.
In 1898, scientists in Uruguay noticed that some of their laboratory rabbits were dying from a mysterious illness, their skin riddled with tumors and weeping wounds. The researchers named the disease myxomatosis. They showed that it was caused by a new virus. And they argued that this myxoma virus—highly lethal, specific to rabbits, and spread by mosquito bites—was exactly what the Australian government was looking for.
Europeans had introduced rabbits to Australia at the end of the 18th century, whereupon the fuzzy critters started breeding like, well, y’know. A century later, they had become a serious problem for both the nation’s wildlife and its farmers. Perhaps a disease could control the bunny blight?
