Venereal spirochetosis of rabbits: epizootiology.

Venereal spirochetosis of rabbits was studied in an enzootically infected conventional rabbit colony. Differences in the susceptibility to and expression of venereal spirochetosis among different inbred or partially inbred strains of rabbits were observed. Significant differences between frequency of lesions in adult male or female rabbits were not observed. Significant differences between the frequency of lesions in breeders or non-breeders were not observed in the 6-12 month age group. However, significant differences between the frequency of lesions in breeders and non-breeders were observed when different ages were pooled. The frequency of venereal spirochetosis in rabbits less than 6 months of age was lower than that in adult rabbits. Newborn fostering experiments indicated that infection occurred at birth and during the suckling period. Evaluation of hysterectomy-derived offspring of infected dams suggested venereal spirochetosis was eliminated by hysterectomy-derivation. Venereal spirochetosis was successfully transmitted by topical or intradermal-subcutaneous genital inoculation of adult rabbits. Adult rabbits were more susceptible to experimental venereal spirochetosis than neonates. The above conclusions were based on clinical and serological observations.