Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease
This half-grown female wild rabbit was found dead. There were no signs of external injury. Post-mortem examination revealed a full gastrointestinal tract - the rabbit had been eating up until an hour or two before death. The liver was enlarged and mottled, the lungs contained several haemorrhages in addition to a pale, necrotic area in the left caudal lung lobe. Histopathology showed the characteristic hepatocellular necrosis of RHD. The pale area in the lung was an aspergilloma and there was also evidence of hepatic coccidiosis. The case was confirmed as RHDV2 with PCR testing.
