Arctic rabies virus

Arctic rabies virus is a strain of Rabies lyssavirus that circulates throughout the arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia. There have been no cases in Sweden or in the mainland of Norway in over 100 years. The virus is, however, found on Svalbard. No cases have been reported from Finland since 1989. The Arctic fox is the main host.

Arctic rabies virus belongs to the family Rhabdoviridae and the genus Lyssavirus. Arctic rabies virus represents one of four genotypes of rabies, all of which have been shown to adapt to different hosts which include fruit- and insect-eating bats and the Arctic fox.