Aetiology of rabbit haemorrhagic disease in China
Park, J.H.; Ochiai, K.; Itakura, C.
Veterinary Record 133(3): 67-69
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 8212487 Document Number: 417839
Infection of 2 rabbits with a Chinese strain of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus resulted in the same clinical, macroscopic, microscopic, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical changes as those caused by the Korean strain. Rabbits died within 30-43 h of infection, with acute hepatitis and degeneration and necrosis of hepatocytes. Other lesions observed were: activation of Kupffer cells and heterophilic migration, heterophilia in spleen, lungs and kidneys, and fibrin thrombi in capillaries of spleen, lungs, kidneys, heart and brain. The morphology of the virus particles and viral replication, observed in membrane-bound cisternae, vacuoles and vesicles in the hepatocytes, indicated a calicivirus. The Chinese and Korean strains had the same antigenicity in Western blot analysis and the same pattern of antigen expression in the hepatocytes. It is concluded that the Chinese strain of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus is a calicivirus.