Viral Hemorrhagic Disease (VHD) 

 

Rabbit Viral Hemorrhagic Disease (VHD) is a highly contagious disease caused by a calicivirus that affects only rabbits of the Oryctolagus cuniculus species. This includes wild and domesticated European rabbits, from which our own domesticated rabbits are descended.

 

VHD was first seen in China in 1984, and has since spread to Mexico, Continental Europe, Israel, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Symptoms may include:

• Loss of appetite

• Lethargy

• High Fever

• Spasms

• Sudden death

 

VHD, however, is often a very swift and sudden killer, giving little warning. Rabbits may die without showing any symptoms at all. Some bleeding from the nose, mouth and rectum is sometimes seen.

 

• The incubation period of this disease is very short, and rabbits may die within 48 hours of exposure to the virus that causes VHD.

• The death rate of rabbits exposed to this virus is very high, between 50 and 100%, with the latter number probably being closer to actual mortality rates. Rabbits who survive this disease are carriers and shed the virus for at least 42 days, perhaps longer.

• Rabbit calicivirus is a very hardy virus, remaining viable in the environment for 105 days at 68F (i.e. remains stable for 105 days at room temperature) and for 225 days at 39F. It resists freezing.

• There is no known cure for VHD. Vaccinations are available in countries where the disease in endemic, but there is no vaccine currently available in the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How VHD is spread

 

As was mentioned, VHD is highly contagious. It can be spread by:

• Contact of a rabbit with inanimate objects contaminated by the virus (i.e. via fomites). Such object would include clothing, shoes, and car and truck tires.

• Direct contact of a rabbit with an infected rabbit or the feces of an infected rabbit.

• Contact with rabbit products such as fur, meat or wool from infected rabbits.

• Insects, birds, and animals such as rodents are known to spread the virus by acting as indirect hosts. They can transport the disease, for example, from an infected rabbit to an unaffected rabbit.

• Humans can spread the virus to their rabbits if they have been in contact with infected rabbits or in contact with objects contaminated by the virus, including feces from an infected rabbit.