Myxomatosis is a viral infection which is fatal to rabbits, although it is treatable in tame rabbits if caught early enough, and it was first reported in Uruguay, South America, in 1898. Attempts to use it as a means of controlling wild rabbits have resulted in epidemics. It can be transmitted by any biting or blood-sucking insect, such as a flea or a mosquito.

Insect vectors form a very important method of transmission. A wide number of mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, mites and lice have been shown to be vectors. The insects can feed on the blood of the infected rabbit or more easily on the exposed area of skin lesions. Further more, unlike infected rabbits which die after about ten days after which the possibility of contact infection is reduced, it has been shown that mosquitoes can carry a virus capable of re-infecting rabbits for up to 6 weeks. Rabbit fleas, particularly Spilopsyllus cuniculi, can act a reservoir of infection for several months after rabbits have deserted a burrow.

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