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The slogan about rabbits that circulated in the Soviet Union, “rabbits are not only warm fur, but also 4 kg of dietary meat,” is still remembered. And before, rabbits were indeed a profitable occupation for summer residents, who kept animals on land plots issued to them by the state, without any hassle. Rabbits could be bred in almost any quantity without worrying about protection from disease. The main thing is that neighbors in the dacha cooperative do not write slander.
Rabbit breeders' paradise existed until 1984, when an RNA virus causing an incurable disease in rabbits first appeared in China. Moreover, it is a disease that is difficult to protect against, since the disease usually progresses at lightning speed.
Due to the fact that the quarantine barrier to the virus was not placed on time and Chinese rabbit meat ended up in Italy, the virus began to spread from China around the world, and viral hemorrhagic rabbit disease began its victorious march.
The problem of counteracting the disease was further aggravated by the fact that rabbits were often outwardly absolutely healthy until the last minutes of life, when they suddenly began to scream, fell, made agonizing movements and died.
In fact, the rabbits had been suffering from VHD for at least 2 days, during which time they managed to infect neighboring healthy animals with the virus.
In addition, at first the owners did not suspect that the virus could persist even in skins, which at that time were often exchanged for animal feed. Since feed for rabbits and the skins of slaughtered animals were often stored in the same room, the feed also turned out to be contaminated with the virus. This helped the virus conquer more and more territories.
The virus arrived in the Soviet Union from two directions at once: from the West, from where European rabbit meat was purchased, and to the Far East directly from China through customs points on the Amur.
Thus, in the former USSR there was no region free from rabbit hemorrhagic disease.
Today, two viruses: VGBV, together with myxomatosis, are literally the scourge of rabbit breeders all over the world, except Australia, which do not allow them to raise rabbits even to slaughter weight.
A rabbit of any age can develop VGBV, but the disease is especially dangerous for rabbits aged 2-3 months, among which the mortality rate from VGBV reaches 100%.
The VGBV virus is quite stable in the external environment and can withstand relatively high temperatures. At 60°C, the virus dies only after 10 minutes, so it is impossible to “warm up” the rabbit so as to kill the virus. The animal will die sooner. Although many less resistant viruses die already at a temperature of 42°, which a living organism is able to withstand. That same “heat” during illness is the body’s fight against the virus.
The virus persists in skins from sick rabbits for up to 3 months.
Routes of infection with the VGBV virus
If the virus of this disease is well resistant in the external environment, you can bring it to your rabbits simply by visiting a fellow rabbit breeder who decided to show off his new rabbit. The virus is easily transmitted through clothing, shoes or on car wheels. Not to mention your hands, which are almost impossible to disinfect properly.
The main sources of infection are feed, manure from sick animals, bedding, water and soil contaminated with the secretions of sick rabbits. Down and skins are also sources of the virus.
But even if the farm is located in the wilderness, there is no guarantee that rabbits will be able to avoid contracting hemorrhagic disease. In addition to the sources already mentioned, the virus can be carried by blood-sucking insects, rodents and birds. They themselves remain immune to the disease.
Symptoms of VGBV disease
The incubation period for the virus ranges from several hours to 3 days. VGB does not have four forms of clinical course that are standard for other diseases. This disease has only 2 forms of the disease: hyperacute and acute.
With hyperacute, the rabbit looks completely healthy. The animal has normal temperature, normal behavior and appetite. Until the moment when he falls to the ground in convulsions.
In the acute form, the animal may notice signs of depression, central nervous system disorder, and sometimes before death the rabbit begins to bleed from the mouth, anus, and nose. Moreover, blood from the nose can be mixed with mucopurulent discharge. Only blood from the nose may appear. Maybe nothing will appear at all.
Therefore, if a rabbit suddenly “out of the blue” died and died, it is necessary to send the animal’s corpse for examination to a laboratory.
Diagnosis of the disease
An accurate diagnosis is established on the basis of anamnesis and pathological studies. At autopsy, a rabbit that died from VGBV was found to have hemorrhages in the internal organs. In addition, virological studies are also carried out.
An autopsy shows that the cause of death of the rabbit was pulmonary edema. But the virus begins to develop in the liver, leading to irreversible changes in it by the time the animal dies. In fact, after the death of a rabbit, the liver resembles a rotten rag that easily tears at hand. The liver has a yellow-brown color and increased volume.
In the photo you can see changes in the liver and lungs.
The heart is enlarged and flabby. The kidneys are red-brown in color with pinpoint hemorrhages. The spleen is dark cherry, swollen, increased in size from 1.5 to 3 times. The gastrointestinal tract is inflamed.
Laboratory studies are necessary to separate IBD from viral respiratory diseases, pasteurellosis, staphylococcosis and poisoning.
The latter is especially relevant since some poisonous plants also lead to rapid death. And many plants are so poisonous that you might not even notice a small piece of poison in a rabbit’s hay.
Prevention and treatment of VGBK
In case of an outbreak of VGBV, only quarantine measures are possible. No treatment is carried out, since there are no medications for the virus. During an outbreak of the disease, all sick and suspicious rabbits are slaughtered and burned.
Another thing is that owners who have seen what is going on inside a sick animal are unlikely to eat this meat.
The remaining healthy rabbits are vaccinated.In the absence of a vaccine, all livestock on the farm are slaughtered. The farm is considered safe only 15 days after the last death of the rabbit and after all sanitary procedures have been carried out, slaughter of sick rabbits and vaccination of healthy ones.
Types of vaccine and vaccination schedule against the disease
To create immunity against VGBV, 6 vaccine variants are produced in Russia, at least two of which are bivalent: against myxomatosis and VGBV and against pasteurellosis and VGBV. Previously, with less choice, a vaccination scheme was in effect, in which the vaccine was injected for the first time into rabbits at the age of 1.5 months. The next time the vaccine was pierced 3 months after the first vaccination. The third and all subsequent vaccinations were carried out every six months.
Today we need to focus on the instructions for the vaccine.
And sometimes it happens that animals get sick immediately after vaccination. The last case suggests that the rabbits were already sick, they simply had time to be vaccinated just during the incubation period of the disease.
Veterinary stations recommend vaccinating baby rabbits at 1.5 months, but it happens that babies begin to die as early as a month. To prevent such cases, you must strictly follow the vaccination schedule for rabbits. Cubs from vaccinated queens have passive immunity for up to 2 months.
In the event of a “breakdown” of the vaccine by the virus, all sick and suspected rabbits will have to be slaughtered, and the supposedly healthy animals will have to be injected with anti-VBGV serum. This is not a vaccine, it is a drug that stimulates the immune system and has a preventive effect for up to 30 days.It’s not a fact that it will help, but it won’t make it worse.
What and how to disinfect
During VGBK, after the destruction of sick animals, complete disinfection is carried out not only of equipment and clothing of personnel, but also of all farm equipment, including cages, drinking bowls and feeders. And also the building itself.
Disinfection is carried out with conventional disinfection solutions from the most available ones: chlorine, phenol, formaldehyde and others. A blowtorch or gas torch is also often used to burn out microorganisms. But if you remember that the virus needs 10 minutes to die at 60°C, it’s easy to guess that either the blowtorch will be ineffective, or by that time everything except the metal parts will burn out.
Today there are more effective disinfectants that will help cope with the virus. Methods of disinfection and preparation for vaccination against VGBV can be seen in the video.
Rabbit vaccination scheme, reliable protection against death
Litter, manure and contaminated feed are burned.
On forums and websites you can often find questions like “is it possible to keep a rabbit that has survived an outbreak of VGBV” or “is it possible to treat VGBV with folk remedies?” People, of course, feel sorry for losing all the animals on their farm, but in both cases the answer is “no.” The surviving rabbit becomes a carrier of infection. Newly purchased rabbits will very quickly also be infected with the virus and die.
Results
If the farm has been visited by the virus of this disease, the best option would be to slaughter all available animals and thoroughly disinfect the equipment, sparing neither effort nor time.
The article was interesting and informative for me!
I am a beginner rabbit breeder. I have three female mothers and a male. Thanks for the article, I found answers to many of my questions.