Nervous rabbit owners plead for effective calicivirus vaccine in Australia

Rabbit breeder Gretel Whitting recently lost three beloved pets from a strain of calicivirus.

“It’s catastrophic,” she said.

“Stopping the virus is almost impossible, it’s very contagious.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), formerly known as rabbit calicivirus, has spread in the region of Tasmania in the form of a strain known as RHDV-2.

The virus generally spreads from rabbit to rabbit, but it can also be transmitted when a human touches a rabbit before handling another rabbit or touching an object.

“It spreads through flies, mice, and bugs, and it can go over your clothes. You can track it in your hair, small pieces of grass, hay, whatever,” Ms. Whitting said. It was

RHDV-2 can damage internal organs such as the liver and intestines, causing bleeding.

Signs include fever, restlessness, lethargy, and loss of appetite.

In many cases, infected rabbits show no symptoms and die suddenly.

Gretel has been raising rabbits in Launceston for over 13 years and is now worried about the health of the other rabbits, Sambuca and Malibu.

“It can take 2-3, or even 4 weeks to kill because of liver failure.”

Mandy Kidd is also a former breeder and said he has lost nine rabbits in the last three months.

“I feel devastated and completely devastated. The nine pets I love so much,” said Kidd.

“I had been raising rabbits for 22 years, but I lost a lot of babies under 6 weeks two weeks ago, so I now have only four pets.

“Keeping them alive and keeping the virus out is a daunting task.”

Mandy said it felt “very unfair” for other countries to have access to the RHDV-2 vaccine when Australians had no access.

“I won’t breed again until I have a vaccine. It’s not worth it, it’s too cruel,” she said.

Increasing number of Tasmania cases

Launceston veterinarian Sally Ann Richter said the number of recent cases seen at the Mowbray Clinic is increasing.

“Recently, the rabbit owner lost two rabbits, but almost overnight,” she said.

“Once a rabbit gets it, there’s no cure. It can’t be treated to fix it. Unfortunately, it’s really difficult because there are not many, if any, clinical signs.

Ms Richter said the virus has been circulating in Australia since the 1990s and was originally introduced to contain a population of wild rabbits.

In a statement, the Department of Primary Industrial Parks, Water, and Environment (DPIPWE) said in a statement that RHDV-2 was never intentionally introduced in Tasmania, and no way to reach the state was known. ..

“There are several strains of the virus. In the past there was always strain 1, but in the 2000s we developed K5, which was originally thought to be from South Korea, but recently we have strain 2. [RHDV-2] Will appear.”

“The reason why the two strains are probably causing more concern from the rabbit owners is that many rabbits are not covered by the usual rabbit vaccination,’Cylap’, and more research needs to be done. .”

Dr Sasha Herbert of the University of Melbourne Veterinary Hospital in Werribee said he wasn’t surprised to hear about the outbreak in Tasmania.

“It’s a very toxic virus. It’s terrible,” she said.

“Young rabbits are really susceptible.”

Why is there no vaccine in Australia?

DPIPWE said there are vaccines sold in Europe and New Zealand (Filaback), but their use in Australia was not approved by the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine (APVMA).

“Vaccines are produced in Europe and there are many hoops and hurdles Australia must go through to get them,” Dr. Herbert said.

“Even with the vaccine we have here to protect rabbits, we had to increase the frequency, so instead of vaccination once a year, we now Vaccinates adult rabbits every six months.

“We also need to vaccinate young rabbits 3 times before 12 weeks of age, then once every 6 months.”

Since mid-2017, CSIRO has been offering free test kits to rabbit owners for RHDV-2 and other strains.

Since then, multiple RHDV-2s have been detected in various locations in northern and southern Tasmania.

Most tests were done on domestic rabbits with some exceptions, except when a strain called RHDVI-K5 was detected.

DPIPWE recommends that rabbit owners who are concerned about the risk of RHDV-2 contact their local veterinarian.

“Some people do this using a double-fence system, so there may be an external fence and another perimeter fence around the rabbit’s pen.

“Also, please wash and change your clothes before touching your pet.

“There are also rabbits in the house. They are usually fine as long as there are enough spots to hide and enough to keep inspiring.”