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Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits

Four pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus) diagnosed with a fatal infection by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV GI.2) were identified in the same week and further investigated. All animals lived in an urban environment (Lisbon, Portugal), were between 8 months and 2 years old and none...

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Autores principales: Pinto, Filipe Fontes, Abrantes, Joana, Ferreira, Paula Gomes, Nóbrega, Mário, Marcos, Ricardo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10073570/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37035809
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1144227
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author Pinto, Filipe Fontes
Abrantes, Joana
Ferreira, Paula Gomes
Nóbrega, Mário
Marcos, Ricardo
author_facet Pinto, Filipe Fontes
Abrantes, Joana
Ferreira, Paula Gomes
Nóbrega, Mário
Marcos, Ricardo
author_sort Pinto, Filipe Fontes
collection PubMed
description Four pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus) diagnosed with a fatal infection by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV GI.2) were identified in the same week and further investigated. All animals lived in an urban environment (Lisbon, Portugal), were between 8 months and 2 years old and none had been vaccinated against RHDV2 (GI.2). Three animals arrived at the clinic and died shortly afterward and it was only possible to collect material for RT-qPCR (RHDV) test. These rabbits tested positive for RHDV2, with high viral loads. In the fourth case, additional clinical and post-mortem gross and histological evaluations were performed. This 8 month old intact female indoor pet rabbit was presented with apathy, tachypnea and tachycardia. Radiographic projections revealed no clinical revealed no clinical abnormalities. Serum biochemistry revealed a significant increase in AST and ALT with a small hypoglycemia. Abdominal ultrasound revealed an acute hepatitis. Despite hospitalization support, after 30 h of admission, the rabbit lost consciousness and developed anorexia and pyrexia in the last minutes before death. Post-mortem analysis and molecular testing by RT-qPCR, confirmed the diagnosis of RHDV2 (GI.2) infection also with high viral load. In conclusion, this paper reports a case series that demonstrates the severe infectious ability and the high mortality associated with RHDV even in rabbits from urban environments. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of always considering rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) as a differential diagnosis in pet rabbits with non-specific clinical signs, and should warn veterinarians that pet rabbits living indoors can also be infected with a fatal outcome.
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spelling pubmed-100735702023-04-06 Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits Pinto, Filipe Fontes Abrantes, Joana Ferreira, Paula Gomes Nóbrega, Mário Marcos, Ricardo Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Four pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus) diagnosed with a fatal infection by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV GI.2) were identified in the same week and further investigated. All animals lived in an urban environment (Lisbon, Portugal), were between 8 months and 2 years old and none had been vaccinated against RHDV2 (GI.2). Three animals arrived at the clinic and died shortly afterward and it was only possible to collect material for RT-qPCR (RHDV) test. These rabbits tested positive for RHDV2, with high viral loads. In the fourth case, additional clinical and post-mortem gross and histological evaluations were performed. This 8 month old intact female indoor pet rabbit was presented with apathy, tachypnea and tachycardia. Radiographic projections revealed no clinical revealed no clinical abnormalities. Serum biochemistry revealed a significant increase in AST and ALT with a small hypoglycemia. Abdominal ultrasound revealed an acute hepatitis. Despite hospitalization support, after 30 h of admission, the rabbit lost consciousness and developed anorexia and pyrexia in the last minutes before death. Post-mortem analysis and molecular testing by RT-qPCR, confirmed the diagnosis of RHDV2 (GI.2) infection also with high viral load. In conclusion, this paper reports a case series that demonstrates the severe infectious ability and the high mortality associated with RHDV even in rabbits from urban environments. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of always considering rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) as a differential diagnosis in pet rabbits with non-specific clinical signs, and should warn veterinarians that pet rabbits living indoors can also be infected with a fatal outcome. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10073570/ /pubmed/37035809 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1144227 Text en Copyright © 2023 Pinto, Abrantes, Ferreira, Nóbrega and Marcos. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Pinto, Filipe Fontes
Abrantes, Joana
Ferreira, Paula Gomes
Nóbrega, Mário
Marcos, Ricardo
Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title_full Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title_fullStr Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title_full_unstemmed Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title_short Case series: Four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
title_sort case series: four fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus infections in urban pet rabbits
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10073570/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37035809
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1144227
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