Domestics [rabbits] deemed vulnerable as deadly virus spreads in U.S.

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Local Rabbits' New Risk

Domestics deemed vulnerable as deadly virus spreads in U.S.

 

Local Rabbits' New Risk

by Denise Flaim (Newsday.com)

http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-p2lspetcol2568871jan29.story

Animal House

 

Jan 29, 2002

 

 

January 29, 2002

 

 

THE WORLD is a scary place, filled with plenty of things to worry about.

 

If you have a bunny in your household, add this ominous-sounding phrase to

your list: rabbit hemorrhagic disease.

 

Also referred to as viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD) or the more

benign-sounding rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD), RHD is a highly contagious

virus that damages the liver, intestines and lymphatic system and causes

severe blood clots, which explains its nickname: " Rabbit ebola. "

 

You've probably not heard much about RHD, but you will be hearing more,

especially after a local outbreak has put breeders, rescuers and owners on

high alert.

 

The good news, if there is any, about RHD is that is it not transmissible to

other species, including humans, and is not related to the ebola virus.

 

Globally speaking, RHD is not a new phenomenon: In 1984, the virus cropped

up in China, then spread to Korea, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and other

European countries. Four years later, a shipment of frozen rabbit carcasses

from China brought the disease to Mexico.

 

In 1995, the virus " mysteriously " escaped from an Australian laboratory that

was studying it as a way to curb the continent's spiraling population of

nonindigenous European rabbits; jealous New Zealand farmers soon managed to

hijack it to their country as well.

 

Up until recently, RHD was not an issue in the United States, largely

because our indigenous wild rabbit population of cottontails and jackrabbits

is immune to the disease. Our domesticated rabbits, however, are descendents

of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and they are very much at

risk.

 

In April 2000, the first documented case of RHD in this country surfaced in

an Iowa rabbitry. Last year, another seemingly isolated outbreak of RHD

cropped up in Utah.

 

And last month, the disease struck right in our backyard: Linda Corcoran, a

spokeswoman for the Queens Zoo, confirms that three rabbits at the facility

died from RHD. The U.S. Department of Agriculture was called in, the zoo's

remaining five rabbits were euthanized and the facility was disinfected

under the federal agency's guidelines.

 

Corcoran says the affected rabbits were " donations " - abandoned bunnies

often are left at the zoo's gate by owners who have tired of them.

 

Rabbit breeders are especially concerned about the disease, which is

transmitted through " fomites " - inanimate objects that act as carriers.

 

" It's a toughy - it's right up there with foot and mouth disease " in terms

of how long it stays viable, says Pamela Alley, a rabbit breeder from

Oroville, Calif., and director of the Rabbit Industry Council. " The

consensus seems to be it's very 'sticky,' tends to cling to things and will

survive freezing. "

 

" If it gets into a rabbitry, it's going to spread like wildfire, " says Bruce

L. Akey, director of Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer

Service's veterinary diagnostic laboratory system, who has been following

the RHD outbreaks closely. " One thing that tips you off is that it's not a

few rabbits that are sick, but that a lot are dying rapidly. "

 

But an infected rabbit has a very bleak prognosis, to put it mildly:

According to the USDA, the death rate ranges from 50 to 100 percent. There

is no treatment, and death occurs within one to three days after infection.

 

The biggest precaution rabbit owners can take, says Akey, " is to know where

your rabbits are coming from. " Quarantining a new animal is " essential, "

minimally from two to four weeks. " If I had reason to suspect it was in my

area, " adds Alley the breeder, " I'd be disinfecting my car tires and

changing shoes and bleaching the ones I had on. "

 

Although other countries have used vaccines to help control RHD, they are

not available here.

 

For more information on RHD, visit www.vhdinfo.