Phylogenetic Evidence of the Public and Veterinary Health Threat of Dog Rabies in Nigeria

Abstract

Molecular phylogenetics has been utilised to trace spillovers of rabies infection from reservoir host species to dead-end non-reservoirs including humans and other susceptible mammalian species. In this study we demonstrate phylogenetic evidence of the transmission of rabies virus infection from a reservoir host to humans and other animals. Here, we analysed phylogenetically a partial region of the nucleoprotein gene of 33 representative Nigerian rabies viruses predominantly recovered from
dogs. The analyses revealed monophyletic group with 2 subclusters according to geographical locality of origin of the viruses. Furthermore, a correlation between humandependent activities such as movement was observed. The data indicated that the virus isolates analysed here together with sequence obtained from Genbank of a human (Nigerian) formed one dominant group. This finding could be attributable to migration and translocation of animals infected with these rabies strains across the country. These molecular epidemiological data further contribute to depicting the public and veterinary health threat that rabies still poses in Nigeria and its implication to food security in this developing economy.