Myxomatosis in Western Australia

Abstract

lVIyxomatosis was released in Western Australia in 1951, following the successful use of the disease to reduce rabbit numbers in the eastern States. In spite of an intensive and persistent official campaign to establish the virus as widely as possible, results obtained in Western Australia fell far below those recorded in the east. Except for two extensive epidemics, myxomatosis has not been a significant factor in rabbit control in Western Australia. The campaign to spread the disease, the results obtained, and the vector situation are described. Epidemics in Western Australia were generally on a small scale and occurred only in areas that had heavy unseasonal summer or early autumn rains, or aboveaverage extended spring rains. Because of the absence of large, permanently flowing streams, combined with the summer drought that is normal in south-western Australia, the summer-breeding mosquitoes Anopheles annulipes Walker and Culez annulirostris Skuse, which are the only important my~omat~osvise ctors, occur only in relatively small numbers.