Successful medical management of a rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus 2 infection in a pet rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Background

RHDV2 infection carries a variable risk of mortality in pet rabbits and there is no specific antiviral treatment.

Case description

An 8-month-old unvaccinated neutered male dwarf rabbit was presented for decreased appetite and reduced faecal output over 12 hours. The rabbit was lethargic and had an uncomfortable cranial abdominal palpation. Abdominal radiography revealed incipient signs of gastric stasis. Blood tests showed an increase in alkaline phosphatase and alanine transaminase activities and a total hyperbilirubinaemia, a thrombocytopenia, a regenerative anaemia and an increase in clotting times for both activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time. On abdominal ultrasound, peritoneal effusion was found in small quantity between liver lobes. RHDV2 infection was confirmed by PCR on a blood sample. Intensive care was initiated, and an 18 mL/kg plasma transfusion was performed. The blood donor rabbit was a healthy and vaccinated 1-year-old New Zealand White neutered male rabbit. Following plasma transfusion, clear clinical improvement was observed. The rabbit was discharged after 6 days with improved blood parameters. The rabbit recovered uneventfully after 1 week. Six months posthospitalization, the rabbit was vaccinated with a trivalent vaccine against myxomatosis, RHDV1 and RHDV2. After 15 months, the rabbit remained healthy.

Conclusions and case relevance

This case reports a detailed successful medical management of a RHDV2 infection in a pet rabbit using supportive treatments and a transfusion of convalescent plasma from a vaccinated rabbit. Convalescent plasma therapy is a relatively simple and affordable treatment that should be considered in case of RHDV2 infection.