I. What is Rabbit Plague?
Rabbit plague is a highly contagious, short incubation period and 100% mortality rate viral infectious disease in rabbits. The pathogen is called the rabbit plague virus. Rabbit plague mainly occurs in winter and spring and is common in young and middle-aged rabbits, while young rabbits have strong immunity during lactation and before and after weaning.
Rabbit plague is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract and digestive tract. Rabbits infected with rabbit plague will have symptoms of anal relaxation before death. The surface of the feces is attached with pale yellow gelatinous secretions, which can contaminate the rabbit’s anus. Hair, a characteristic symptom of rabbit plague, can be effectively distinguished from other diseases.
2. What are the symptoms of rabbit plague?
The incubation period of rabbit plague is very short. After the rabbit comes into contact with the source of infection, it only takes 20-48 hours to develop the disease. According to the length of the rabbit’s disease course, the symptoms of rabbit plague can be divided into the following Four types.
1. Strong acute type: Rabbits die suddenly without signs, and a few rabbits may scream before dying.
2. Acute type: Rabbit’s body temperature rises to 41-42 degrees, accompanied by symptoms such as lack of energy, decreased appetite or complete abstinence, increased water intake, shortness of breath, and rapid heartbeat. Some rabbits will appear mentally abnormal, manifested as random struggle, ramming the rabbit cage, biting the cage railings, rowing motions of the limbs continuously, trembling all over the body, etc. 6-8 hours after the onset of the disease; the rabbit will convulse all over the body or screech and die. On the corpse, it can be found that the rabbit’s nostrils and ears have foamy blood, and the feces have a layer of pale yellow secretions.
3. Chronic type: The course of the disease is usually within three months. Rabbits will mainly show that the body temperature rises to above 41 degrees, accompanied by lack of energy, decreased appetite, weight loss, rough and dull hair, and increased water intake. Symptoms: As the disease progresses, the rabbit’s body temperature gradually approaches normal, and the symptoms of poor appetite are relieved. If a small number of rabbits can survive this stage, they can gradually return to normal.
4. Depressed type: Rabbits showed lethargy and decreased vitality; other symptoms were not obvious.
Three, prevention and control measures for rabbit plague
So far, rabbit plague There is still no specific drug developed for the plague, and most of the rabbit plague is spread from other rabbit farms. The primary medium is the feed, drinking water, forage, etc., contaminated by sick rabbits. Therefore, the prevention and control measures for rabbit plague are usually based on prevention.
First of all, it is recommended that owners inject rabbit plague vaccine into rabbits in advance in spring and autumn each year. The injection method of the rabbit plague vaccine is very simple. It must only be injected subcutaneously in the neck, 1ml each time. The injection can have a 6-month immunity period, the primary means of preventing rabbit plague.
Secondly, do an excellent job of environmental sanitation. If rabbit plague occurs on the nearby rabbit farm, special attention should be paid to the safety of the rabbit’s drinking water and diet. You can use 1% sodium hydroxide to disinfect the rabbit farm, effectively inactivating the rabbit plague virus.
Finally, the Rabbit plague virus is also sensitive to high temperatures. At room temperature of 40℃ or 37℃, using 0.4% formaldehyde solution can make it lose its pathogenicity.
