Simultaneous infection with rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus and Pasteurella multocida in rabbits

초록

Rabbit infectious hemorrhagic fever has been reported in rabbits worldwide. The disease is also frequently reported on Korean rabbit farms, and the pathological study of 9 rabbits on such disease-occurring farms was attempted to identify the pathogen. Clinical signs were torticollis and ear ulceration. Most rabbit died with bloody nasal discharges. At necropsy, multiple hemorrhages and inflammation were observed in heart, lung, liver and uterus. The main histopathologic features were hemorrhagic suppurative meningoencephalitis, fibrinous bronchointerstitial pneumonia, bacteremia, liver cell necrosis, multifocal hemorrhages in kidney and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. The viral VP60 gene of RHDV was identified by Reverse Transcriptase PCR. Pasteurella multocida organisms were cultured, identified by biochemical test and serotyped as A by multiplex capsular typing PCR. In conclusion, the fatal hemorrhagic disease was due to combined infection with both RHDV and P. multocida in rabbits. To our knowledge, this is the first case report about co-infection with both RHDV and P. multocida in rabbits in Korea.

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