Tonie Rocke
Science and Products
Modeling the response of cave hibernating Myotis species to white-nose syndrome mitigation tactics
Research collaboration: Robin Russell (NWHC), Tonie Rocke (NWHC), Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC), Evan Grant (PWRC)
White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease devastating cave-hibernating bat species (Myotis spp.) in the eastern...
Vaccines
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) works on developing various disease management tools, including the development of vaccines. Our current work focuses on vaccines for sylvatic plague, white-nose syndrome, and rabies as disease control strategies.
Sylvatic Plague
Sylvatic plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, is a bacterial disease transmitted by fleas that afflicts many mammalian species, including humans.
White-Nose Syndrome
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease of hibernating bats that has spread from the northeastern across United States at an alarming rate.
Vector-Borne Diseases
Vector-borne diseases are transmitted from one animal to another by vectors, including insects, such as mosquitoes or fleas, and arachnids, such as ticks. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center investigates wildlife diseases, including vector-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus and sylvatic plague.
Space matters: Host spatial structure and the dynamics of plague transmission
The development of models to elucidate the transmission pathways and dynamics of wildlife diseases remains challenging. Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (Yp), is an infectious zoonotic disease that primarily affects wild rodents, including prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) in North America. Proposed transmission...
Russell, Robin E.; Walsh, Daniel P.; Samuel, Michael D.; Grunnill, Martin S.; Rocke, Tonie E. Sentinel coyote pathogen survey to assess declining black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) population in South Dakota, USA
As part of the national recovery effort, endangered black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) were reintroduced to the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, USA in 2000. Despite an encouraging start, numbers of ferrets at the site have declined. In an effort to determine possible causes of the population decline, we undertook a pathogen...
Schuler, Krysten L.; Claymore, Michael; Schnitzler, Hannah; Dubovi, Edward; Rocke, Tonie E.; Perry, Michael J.; Bowman, Dwight; Abbott, Rachel Experimental challenge of a North American bat species, big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), with SARS-CoV-2
The recently emerged novel coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2, is phylogenetically related to bat coronaviruses (CoVs), specifically SARS‐related CoVs from the Eurasian bat family Rhinolophidae. As this human pandemic virus has spread across the world, the potential impacts of SARS‐CoV‐2 on native North American bat populations are unknown, as is the ability...
Hall, Jeffrey S.; Knowles, Susan; Nashold, Sean; Ip, Hon S.; Leon, Ariel Elizabeth; Rocke, Tonie E.; Keller, Saskia Annatina; Carossino, Mariano; Balasuriya, Udeni B.R.; Hofmeister, Erik K. Characterizing patterns of genomic variation in the threatened Utah prairie dog: Implications for conservation and management
Utah prairie dogs (Cynomys parvidens) are federally threatened due to eradication campaigns, habitat destruction, and outbreaks of plague. Today, Utah prairie dogs exist in small, isolated populations, making them less demographically stable and more susceptible to erosion of genetic variation by genetic drift. We characterized patterns of genetic...
Giglio, Rachel M.; Rocke, Tonie E.; Osorio, Jorge E.; Latch, Emily K. Moderate susceptibility to subcutaneous plague (Yersinia pestis) challenge in vaccine-treated and untreated Sonoran deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus sonoriensis) and northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster)
The variable response of wild mice to Yersinia pestis infection, the causative agent of plague, has generated much speculation concerning their role in the ecology of this potentially lethal disease. Researchers have questioned the means by which Y. pestis is maintained in nature and also sought methods for managing the disease...
Bron, Gebbiena; Smith, Susan; Williamson, Judy L.; Tripp, Daniel W.; Rocke, Tonie E. Impacts of environmental conditions on fleas in black-tailed prairie dog burrows
Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and transmitted by fleas, occurs in prairie dogs of the western United States. Outbreaks can devastate prairie dog communities, often causing nearly 100% mortality. Three competent flea vectors, prairie dog specialists Oropsylla hirsuta and O. tuberculata, and...
Poje, Julia E.; Rocke, Tonie E.; Samuel, Michael D. Effects of climate change on plague exposure pathways and resulting disease dynamics
Introduction and Objectives: Sylvatic plague, a zoonotic flea-borne disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is relevant to the Department of Defense (DOD), because prairie dogs and other susceptible rodents are present on military installations in several western states. Arthropod-borne diseases, like plague, are thought to be...
Rocke, Tonie E.; Russell, Robin E.; Samuel, Michael D.; Abbott, Rachel C.; Poje, Julia Clinical presentation and serological responses to natural outbreaks of rabies in a captive colony of common vampire bats
We report mortality events in a group of 123 common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) captured in México and housed for a rabies vaccine efficacy study in Madison, Wisconsin. Bat mortalities occurred in México and Wisconsin, but rabies cases reported herein are only those that occurred after arrival in Madison (n = 15). Bats were confirmed positive...
Cárdenas-Canales, Elsa M.; Gigante, Crystal M.; Greenberg, Lauren A.; Velasco-Villa, Andres; Ellison, James A.; Satheshkumar, Panayampalli S.; Medina-Magües, Lex G; Griesser, Richard; Falendysz, Elizabeth; Amezcua, Ignacio; Osorio, Jorge E.; Rocke, Tonie E. Rabies outbreak in captive big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) used in white-nose syndrome vaccine trial
An outbreak of rabies occurred in a captive colony of wild-caught big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Five of 27 bats exhibited signs of rabies virus infection 22–51 d after capture or 18–22 d after contact with the index case. Rabid bats showed weight loss, aggression, increased vocalization, hypersalivation, and refusal of food. Antigenic typing...
Abbott, Rachel C.; Saindon, L.G.; Falendysz, Elizabeth; Greenberg, Lauren; Orciari, L.A.; Satheshkumar, Panayampalli Subbian; Rocke, Tonie E. Fluorescent biomarkers demonstrate prospects for spreadable vaccines to control disease transmission in wild bats
Vaccines that autonomously transfer among individuals have been proposed as a strategy to control infectious diseases within inaccessible wildlife populations. However, rates of vaccine spread and epidemiological efficacy in real-world systems remain elusive. Here, we investigate whether topical vaccines that transfer among individuals through...
Bakker, Kevin M.; Rocke, Tonie E.; Osorio, Jorge E.; Abbott, Rachel C.; Tello, Carlos; Carerra, Jorge; Valderrama, William; Shiva, Carlos; Falcon, Nestor; Streicker, Daniel G. Differential plague susceptibility in species and populations of prairie dogs
Laboratory trials conducted over the past decade at USGS National Wildlife Health Center indicate that wild populations of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) display different degrees of susceptibility to challenge with fully virulent Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. We evaluated patterns in prairie dog susceptibility to plague to...
Russell, Robin E.; Tripp, Daniel W.; Rocke, Tonie E. Plague positive mouse fleas on mice prior to plague outbreaks in black-tailed and white-tailed prairie dogs
Plague is a lethal zoonotic disease associated with rodents worldwide. In the western United States, plague outbreaks can decimate prairie dog (Cynomys spp.) colonies. However, it is unclear where the causative agent, Yersinia pestis, of this flea-borne disease is maintained between outbreaks, and what triggers plague-induced prairie dog die-offs...
Bron, Gebbiena M.; Malave, Carly; Boulerice, Jesse T.; Osorio, Jorge E.; Rocke, Tonie E.
White-nose syndrome surveillance and research updates
Updates on white-nose syndrome surveillance and research from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Fall 2019.
Vaccination May Help Protect Bats from Deadly Disease
A new study shows that vaccination may reduce the impact of white-nose syndrome in bats, marking a milestone in the international fight against one of the most destructive wildlife diseases in modern times.
Taking the Bait: Majority of Prairie Dogs Are Consuming Plague Vaccine
About 70 percent of wild prairie dogs successfully ingested baits containing an oral sylvatic plague vaccine, or SPV, that were distributed throughout their habitats, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.
Oral Plague Vaccine Helps Reduce Outbreaks in Prairie Dog Colonies
Prairie dogs in the wild are less likely to succumb to plague after they ingest peanut-butter-flavored bait that contains a vaccine against the disease, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study published today in the journal EcoHealth.