A case of low success of blind vaccination campaigns against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease on survival of adult European wild rabbits

摘要: Vaccination campaigns against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) are commonly used in translocation programs conducted for the purpose of recovering wild European populations Iberian Mediterranean ecosystems. In most cases rabbits vaccinated 'blind' (i.e. without assessing their prior immunological status) economic logistic reasons. However, there is conflicting evidence on effectiveness such an approach. We tested whether blind vaccination improved survival a program where were kept semi-natural conditions three enclosures. nine capture sessions over two years (2008-2010) information collected to compare (n=511) versus unvaccinated (n=161) adult using capture-mark-recapture analysis. Average monthly was no different individuals, both period between release first (short-term) after onward (long-term). Rabbit lower short term than long regardless or not. Lower short-term could be due stress induced by process itself (e.g. handling stress). we did not find any overall effect which explained non-exclusive First, interference vaccine with natural antibodies donor population. Due have high density with, likely, prevalence as result previous exposure these diseases. Second, lack severe outbreaks during study period. Based our findings argue that may often mostly ineffective unnecessarily costly. particular, since hard predict ineffective, it crucial assess status population before translocating rabbits.