Myxomatosis
Effects of the disease
Treatment
Myxomatosis can be misdiagnosed as pasteurellosis, a bacterial infection which can be treated with antibiotics. Rabbits treated for pasteurellosis must often be treated with antibiotics for several weeks to several months. Some rabbits may require surgical intervention in order to remove purulent tissues and abscess. Once pasteurellosis has become well entrenched, however, there is no guarantee the animal will survive. By contrast, at this writing, there is no treatment for rabbits suffering myxomatosis, other than palliative care to ease the suffering of individual animals, and the treatment for secondary and opportunistic infections, in the hopes the treated animal will survive. Though the vectors of communication are similar, either contact with an infected animal, cage, feeding or water dishes, and insects, pasteurellosis can also be spread through breeding, specifically infecting the sexual organs of the animal. Likewise, it is advisable to arrive at the correct diagnosis for the benefit of both rabbit and owner.
In cases of myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), the owner is often urged to euthanize the animal to ease its suffering. Often the difference between diagnosing a fatal viral infection and a complex, but treatable, bacterial infection like pasteurellosis, will likely include medications, X-rays, surgery, convalescent, and follow-up care. While surgery and antibiotics may successfully treat pasteurellosis, they will not treat myxomatosis or RHD. Thus it is important to discern between untreatable diseases and treatable conditions. Myxomatosis and RHD are highly communicable, and untreatable at any stage, whereas rabbits suffering from diseases/conditions other than myxomatosis and RHD, such as poisoning, heat exhaustion, E. coli or Clostridium perfringens type E enterotoxemia can benefit from timely veterinary intervention.
Spread of the disease
After its discovery in 1896 in imported rabbits in Uruguay, a relatively harmless strain spread quickly throughout the wild populations in South America.
Use of vaccine
A vaccine is available for pet rabbits (ATCvet code: QI08AD02), but is illegal in Australia due to fears that the immunity conferred by the vaccine could be transmitted through the wild rabbit population, since the vaccine uses a live virus, the . However, there is no evidence that this could happen, and many pets in Australia continue to die from the introduced disease and the illegality of the vaccine. There is at least one campaign to allow the vaccine for domestic pets.
Natural resistance
The development of resistance to the disease seems to have taken different courses. In Australia, the virus initially killed rabbits very quickly, about 4 days after infection. This gave little time for the infection to spread. However, a less virulent form of the virus has become prevalent there, spreading more effectively by being less lethal. In Europe, many rabbits are genetically resistant to the original virus that was spread. The survival rate of diseased rabbits has now increased to 35% when in the 1950s it was near zero.
Cultural reference
References
External links
- An interview with Frank Fenner
- Coalition against Myxomatosis – an organisation campaigning for legalization of vaccine in Australia.
- Society & Animals Journal of Human-Animal Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, 2001
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