Pinto Filipe Fontes, Abrantes Joana, Ferreira Paula Gomes, Nóbrega Mário, Marcos Ricardo
HIPRA, Malveira, Portugal.
UMIB-Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine, ICBAS-School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Mar 22;10:1144227. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1144227. eCollection 2023.
Four pet rabbits () 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.
同一周内确诊了四只感染兔出血性疾病病毒（RHDV GI.2）的宠物兔，并对其进行了进一步调查。所有动物都生活在城市环境中（葡萄牙里斯本），年龄在8个月至2岁之间，且均未接种过针对RHDV2（GI.2）的疫苗。三只兔子被送到诊所，随后不久死亡，只能采集材料进行RT-qPCR（RHDV）检测。这些兔子RHDV2检测呈阳性，病毒载量很高。在第四例中，进行了额外的临床、死后大体和组织学评估。这只8个月大的未绝育雌性室内宠物兔表现出冷漠、呼吸急促和心动过速。放射学检查未发现临床异常。血清生化检查显示AST和ALT显著升高，伴有轻度低血糖。腹部超声显示急性肝炎。尽管给予了住院支持，但入院30小时后，兔子失去意识，在死亡前几分钟出现厌食和发热。死后分析和RT-qPCR分子检测证实了RHDV2（GI.2）感染的诊断，病毒载量也很高。总之，本文报告了一个病例系列，表明即使在城市环境中的兔子中，RHDV也具有严重的感染能力和高死亡率。此外，它强调了在具有非特异性临床症状的宠物兔中，始终将兔出血性疾病（RHD）作为鉴别诊断的重要性，并应提醒兽医，室内饲养的宠物兔也可能感染并导致致命后果。
