{"doi":"10.1111/eve.13843","title":"On skunk rabies and its prevention in North America","abstract":"The case report by Navarro-López et al. (2023) in this issue describes a thorough differential diagnosis in a horse with acute neurological disease. Rabies was confirmed by direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test. Rabies virus (RABV) was isolated from brain tissue of the ill mare by intracerebral inoculation in sucking mice. Sequencing and phylogenetic inference allowed the identification of the rabies virus variant (RVV) associated with this case. Thus, Navarro-López et al. reported that the rabid mare got infected with a RVV associated with skunks. This clinical commentary elaborates on the seemingly rare skunk rabies across North America (NA), highlighting its relevance in human and animal health that have remained somehow neglected. Over the last two centuries, skunks have been one of the most common wildlife rabid animals across North America (Gremillion-Smith & Woolf, 1988; Ma et al., 2023; Oertli et al., 2009). Early reports of skunk rabies transmitted to humans, companion animals and farm animals, date from 1826 in lower California (Johnson, 1971), where most exposures were associated with spotted skunks (Spilogale spp.). Skunk rabies across the Central Great Plains mainly involving striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) began to be observed during the second half of the 19th century (Hovey, 1874). Due to advances in molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics and notable improvements on wildlife rabies surveillance (primarily passive both laboratory-based and epidemiological), it is now known that the skunk rabies epizootic is comprised by regional independent enzootics in which RVVs with particular evolutionary histories predominate (Charlton et al., 1988; Clark et al., 2015; Kuzmina et al., 2013). The north-central skunk (NCSK), the California skunk (CASK), the Baja California Sur Mexico skunk (BCSMXSK), the Northwest Mexico skunk (NWMXSK) and the Yucatan Mexico skunk (YUCMXSK) enzootics maintain circulation of specific RVVs that originated from long-standing dog rabies epizootics prevailing in their respective regions, as shown in Figure 1 (Barton & Wisely, 2012; Davis et al., 2013; Kuzmina et al., 2013; Velasco-Villa et al., 2002, 2005, 2008, 2017). Meanwhile, the South-central skunk (SCSK) and the North-central Mexico skunk (NCMXSK) enzootics maintain RVVs that originated from ancestral bat rabies epizootics (see Figure 1) (Barton & Wisely, 2012; Davis et al., 2013; Kuzmina et al., 2013; Velasco-Villa et al., 2002, 2005, 2008, 2017). Thus far, individuals of all skunk species in North America have been reported to be rabid (Conepatus leuconotus, Conepatus semistriatus, Mephitis mephitis, Mephitis macroura, Spilogale gracillis, Spilogale putorius, Spilogale leucoparia and Spilogale yucatanensis); however, only M. mephitis and some Spilogale spp have been recognised as major rabies reservoir hosts across North America (Aranda & López-de Buen, 1999; Dragoo et al., 2004; 2006; Gremillion-Smith & Woolf, 1988; Oertli et al., 2009; Velasco-Villa et al., 2002, 2005). Albeit their divergent origins, all RVVs circulating in North American skunk populations seem to be virulent and capable of causing rabies in any sympatric mammal that a rabid skunk may encounter (Barton & Wisely, 2012; Charlton et al., 1991; Hill et al., 1993). Rabies is a highly lethal infectious disease for all mammals including the rabies reservoir hosts – i.e. mammal species in the Carnivore and Chiroptera orders that play a central role in maintaining specific RVVs through intraspecific transmission (Smith, 1989). The most common mechanism of rabies transmission is by direct contact through bites of sick animals infected with RABV. However, rabies could be acquired through contact with RABV infected/contaminated saliva or brain tissue from a rabid animal in open wounds or mucosa (Fisher et al., 2018). The incubation period for rabies in skunks varies from 21 to 117 days, which is similar to that observed in most mammals (Borchering et al., 2012; Gremillion-Smith ","journal":"Equine Veterinary Education","year":2023,"id":386481,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9644,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1155049,"name":"Andrés Velasco-Villa","orcid":"0000-0003-1538-9373","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":42,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:18:00.717763Z","pmid":"38651084","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}