Evolutionary analyses of Georgian Rabies Lyssavirus strains and their genetically most closely related conspecifics from elsewhere provide evidence suggesting risks for dog-to-cattle rabies transmission as well as this disease coinfections and transborder transmission

Abstract Genetic relationships between Rabies Virus (RABV) isolates recovered from dog, jackal, and cattle in Georgia, and their genetically most closely related conspecifics from elsewhere, were determined, using the DNA analysis of nucleoprotein (N) gene loci. Multiple isolates from dogs and cattle were found to share the same sequence types (STs), being suggestive of the risks of dog-to-cattle rabies transmission in Georgia. Exhibiting population selective sweeps and expansion, as well as genetic recombination, the evolutionary analyses of Georgian RABV strains and their conspecifics from Russia, Turkey, Iran, and elsewhere, provided further evidence for rabies coinfections and its transborder transmission.