Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease: Protecting Your Rabbitry

Abstract

Until recently, there have been few serious diseases affecting domestic or pet rabbits in the United States. For the first time ever cases of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (sometimes abbreviated RHD or RHDV) have surfaced in wild rabbit populations in North America. This disease is caused by a highly contagious calicivirus that affects rabbits and hares (lagomorphs) and causes serious disease and death. This virus and the disease it causes has been around for many years; it was first identified in China in 1984. It soon spread into Europe where it caused significant fatalities in the European wild and domestic rabbit populations. Humans inadvertently introduced the disease to Australia and New Zealand in the early 1990s, when they were trying to develop a tool to control RHDV in wild (and invasive) rabbit populations in those countries.