In what country is myxomatosis a problem?

Doesn't quite answer your question, but its the best i could find:

"Myxomatosis is a fatal disease of all breeds of domesticated rabbits caused by myxoma virus, a member of the poxvirus group. Myxomatosis is called “big head” and is characterized by mucinous skin lesions or myxomas. Wild rabbits like the cottontail ( Sylvilagus ) and jackrabbits ( Lepus ) are quite resistant. Myxoma virus-infected Sylvilagus develop fibroma-like lesions similar to those caused by rabbit fibroma virus. All other mammals are refractory to the virus. ***Myxomatosis has a worldwide distribution. In the USA, myxomatosis is restricted largely to the coastal area of California and Oregon, where epidemics occur infrequently but sporadic cases are common****. These areas correspond to the geographic distribution of the California brush rabbit ( S bachmani ), the reservoir of the infection. Losses in rabbitries may be 25-90%. Transmission occurs via mosquitos, fleas, biting flies, and direct contact."

"An attenuated vaccine prepared from a myxomatosis virus has protected rabbits infected under both field and laboratory conditions. This vaccine is not available in the USA,"

Myxomatosis is pretty rare in the US, so there's not been a rush to provide a vaccine like the one available in the UK. It seems to be mostly confined to large herds that are being bred for the meat/fur industry.

Personal opinion: Darn shame it infects the rabbits and not the humans that run the things!

And I hear your cry for a good rabbit vet! The closest one that I have is 1-1/2 hours away...and the emergency place is about 2 hours!

I swear if I ever win the lottery I'm going to establish a grant program for vet students to get into bunny-specific medicine.

In Australia they realised myxomatosis into the wild rabbit population to control them (this in 1950's) and I believe that you can't vaccinate you

http://au.geocities.com/mbunnyau/myxomatosis.html

"In the 1950s, myxomatosis killed most rabbits, perhaps as much as 99% of the population. Today, myxomatosis is still having an effect but the kill rate is often less than 50%" rabbits in Australia against it.

Please don't allow this cruelty to continue. Only public opinion will finally pressure the Australian Government to allow the vaccine to be made readily available to pet rabbit owners. I will endeavour to keep all links below up to date, but please contact me if you have any problems.

This disease was first observed in Uraguay in the 1800s and deliberately introduced to kill the ever increasing rabbit population in Australia and the UK. By now many rabbits are immune to this disease by 50%. Since generation after generation has developed a resistance to it over the years.

IIRC, it was introduced in Australia to curb the (also introduced, so they could be "sport hunted" - way to go, humankind...) rabbit population. But it's referenced in "Watership Down" so it seems like it would be a problem with UK rabbits, as well. (Yes, I know, not the most scientific of references, but Richard Adams did a lot of research for his novel).

According to Wiki, it does not affect North American rabbits (cottontails) the same way it does European rabbits (which are a different genus).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomatosis