Analyzing 30 years of data detailing a large rabies virus
outbreak among North American raccoons, researchers at Emory
University have revealed how initial demographic, ecological and
genetic processes simultaneously shaped the virus's geographic
spread over time. The study appears online in the Proceedings of
The National Academy of Sciences. "Our study demonstrates the
combined evolutionary and population dynamic processes
characterizing the spread of a pathogen after its introduction
into a susceptible host population," says Leslie Real, PhD,
Emory University Asa G. Candler professor of biology. During
invasion, emerging pathogens, such as rabies, ebola and
hantavirus, undergo rapid evolution while expanding their
numbers and geographic range; yet, it is difficult to
demonstrate how these processes interact, says Dr. Real.
However, this particular outbreak, which went largely unchecked
until relatively recently, was unusually well documented both
spatially and temporally. Data were methodically collected a