Experimentally induced epizootic rabbit enteropathy: clinical, histopathologicaI, ultrastructural, bacteriological and haematological findings

Dewrée, Roxane; Meulemans, L.; Lassence, Cédric; Desmecht, Daniël; Ducatelle, R.; Mast, Jan; Licois, Dominique; Vindevogel, Henri; Marlier, Didier

doi:10.4995/wrs.2007.602

Cited by 20 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Indeed, Licois et al (2003) managed to reproduce Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy in healthy rabbits with air samples collected in farms that had housed ill animals. The greater presence of C. perfringens spores in the dust samples of the second trial could partly explain the increase in mortality as high counts of C. perfringens have been associated with the appearance of clinical symptoms of this disease (Dewrée et al, 2007;Romero et al, 2009a).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of early feed restriction on performance and health status in growing rabbits slaughtered at 2 kg live-weight

et al. 2010

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ABSTRACT:The effect of a time-limited access to the feeders (8 h per d from 9:30 to 17:30) on fattening performance and health status was studied in rabbits reared until 2 kg live-weight as typical in the Spanish market. For this purpose, the same diet (10.5 MJ digestible energy/kg, 38.9% neutral detergent fi bre and 18.4% crude protein on dry matter basis) was used over two consecutive trials. A total of 192 growing rabbits (96 in each trial) were weaned at 35 d and assigned to 2 different feeding treatments (continuously fed ad libitum or restricted from 35 until 49 d). In the fi rst trial, feed restriction reduced daily feed intake (94.3 vs. 74.2 g; P<0.001), daily weight gain (43.6 vs. 27.1 g; P<0.001) and impaired feed conversion rate (FCR) (2.28 vs. 2.92, P<0.001) in the fi rst 14 d after weaning. Later on, no feed restriction was applied and a compensatory growth was observed in previously restricted rabbits (44.8 vs. 54.8 g/d; P<0.001). Early restricted rabbits did not reach the Spanish commercial weight (2 kg) at 63 d of age and weighed less than full-fed rabbits (1989 vs. 1888 g; P=0.001). Moreover, feed restriction did not improve FCR in the whole fattening period (2.56 on average). The second trial was extended until 70 d to permit restricted rabbits to attain market weight. However, at that age, live weight of restricted rabbits was also lower than that of rabbits always fed ad libitum (2285 vs. 2101 g; P=0.001). In the fi rst trial, no health problem was recorded (average mortality 1.04%) whereas in the second trial feed restriction allowed both mortality (25.6 vs. 6.34%, P=0.017) and morbidity (41.4 vs. 12.7%, P=0.004) to decrease. The higher number of losses in the second trial made economic FCR differ from scientifi c FCR (3.63 vs. 2.89, on average) in the 35-70 d period. Moreover, morbidity increased heterogeneity of fattening performance. In conclusion, the interest of feed restriction in Spanish fattening rabbit farms is mitigated by the conventional market weight. Nevertheless, in a context with high rates of digestive troubles, a time-limited access to the feeder enhances health status on the farm and could justify the short delay necessary to reach slaughter weight.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of early feed restriction on performance and health status in growing rabbits slaughtered at 2 kg live-weight

et al. 2010

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“…Thirty-seven out of the 69 animals with digestive diseases showed ERE symptoms Dewrée et al, 2007;Licois, 2010). Bar one rabbit, all animals affected by ERE presented diarrhoea.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This enteropathy is a digestive disease characterised by prostration, abdominal bloating, aqueous diarrhoea and distension of both stomach and small intestine with gaseous and watery contents, both impacted or liquid caecal contents and occasionally droppings with abundant mucus in 10% of the cases (Coudert et al, 1997;Licois et al, 2006;Dewrée et al, 2007). Although increased mortality rates mainly account for the economic losses caused by this disease, farm profitability is also affected by the impairment of growth performance and feed conversion (Licois, 2004(Licois, , 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of Clostridium perfringens presence and concentration of its α-toxin in the caecal contents of fattening rabbits suffering from digestive diseases

et al. 2011

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Digestive diseases are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in growing rabbits. Clostridium perfringens is a widely occurring pathogenic bacterium in enteric diseases of domestic animals and its pathogenicity stems from the production of potent exotoxins. This work aimed to quantify the concentration of C. perfringens α-toxin in caecal samples of rabbits with digestive diseases and relate these concentrations to C. perfringens counts. Additionally, C. perfringens strains isolated from rabbits with clinical lesions of Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy (ERE) were toxinotyped. To conduct this work, a total of 711 rabbits weaned at 35 d were housed in pairs and fattened until the age of 63 d. No experimental infection was performed and no antibiotics were provided in the feed or drinking water. All rabbits displaying symptoms of digestive diseases were slaughtered and necropsied. At 46 d, 88 healthy rabbits were also slaughtered. Caecal contents were sampled from all slaughtered animals. Thirty-seven out of the 69 rabbits with digestive diseases (88.5% of sick animals) showed ERE-confirmed symptoms and lesions. Apart from diarrhoea, the most constant ERE signs were abdominal bloating and borborygmi. At necropsy, the anterior digestive tract was found filled with large amounts of gas and liquid. Twenty-seven rabbits had liquid caecal contents whereas caecal impaction only appeared in 10 rabbits. Live weight was lower by 49.2% (P<0.001) in diseased rabbits as compared with healthy rabbits of the same age. For C. perfringens counts lower than 6.0 log cfu/g, the α-toxin concentration remained below 2.6 μg/mg. However, for bacterial counts above 6.0 log cfu/g the concentration of α-toxin ranged from 0.12 to 60.9 μg/mg. Nevertheless, both caecal concentration of C. perfringens (7.65 vs. 3.09 log cfu/g, P<0.001) and that of its α-toxin (6.02 vs. 0.17 μg/mg, P<0.001) were higher in diseased rabbits than in healthy ones. C. perfringens toxinotype A was found in all ERE-affected rabbits. No other toxinotype was identified and no isolate contained the enterotoxin gene. In conclusion, C. perfringens α-toxin should not be considered a good indicator of the bacterium's presence, as high counts of colonies are not always associated with high toxin concentrations.

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“…The absence of intestinal inflammation, especially at caecum level, is the main feature of the syndrome that differentiates it from the acute enteritis or enterotyphlitis observed during colibacillosis, coccidiosis and C. spiroforme iota-like enterotoxaemia. The role of Clostridium perfringens as aetiological agent of ERE has been investigated (Marlier et al, 2006), but no aetiological agents of ERE have been detected to date (Dewrée et al, 2007;Huybens et al, 2009), although a bacterial (anaerobic, air-tolerant bacterium) or bacterial toxin origin has been suggested (Licois and Marlier, 2008). This paper describes an observational study of spontaneous rabbit enteropathies in a rabbit production facility, carried out by using standardised binomial checklists of clinical signs and enteric lesions, followed by data processing with a cluster analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical, pathological and microbiological profiles of spontaneous enteropathies in growing rabbits

Badagliacca

Letizia²,

Candeloro

et al. 2010

World rabbit sci.

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ABSTRACT:In a rabbit production facility, health monitoring for enteropathies was performed in 15 production cycles for 20 mo. For each cycle, up to a hundred 35 d old rabbits weaned the same day were randomly selected, reared in the same fattening unit, but separately from the source batch and fed with the same feed except for antimicrobial supplementation. Clinical symptoms and enteric lesions of the selected group were recorded, using two checklists with binomial response (yes/no answer to a list of 54 clinical and enteric variables). The day after weaning, one week later, at the beginning of the enteric symptoms and 4-5 d after the start of the symptoms, inocula from the small intestine and caecum of selected animals were subjected to microbiological, C. spiroforme, Eimeria oocyst and rotavirus antigen detection tests. Representative samples of E. coli and C. perfringens isolates were tested, respectively, for serotype, biotype, eae, afr/2 genes and for a, b1, b2, e, i and enterotoxin toxin genes. The answers to the clinical-pathological variables were subjected to statistical analysis with a cluster analysis programme in order to obtain homogeneous, statistically signifi cant groups of diseased animals (clusters). Then, the clusters were statistically associated with the laboratory outcomes. The cluster to which the enterotyphlitis lesions signifi cantly contributed was associated with E. coli detection, E. coli O103 serotype detection and C. spiroforme ("several elements" variable). C. spiroforme ("rare elements" variable) was signifi cantly associated with a cluster, characterised by a pathological profi le consisting of bloating/rumbling noise and liquid content in stomach and caecum, without enteric infl ammation. C. perfringens was signifi cantly associated with a cluster, characterised by a pathological profi le consisting of dilation/liquid content of small intestine, caecal impaction and mucoid content in the colon. Eighteen out of twenty-fi ve C. perfringens strains, examined for their toxin genotypes, proved to be toxin type A, while 7 out of 25 strains showed the a and b2 toxin genes in combination. The rotavirus antigen and Eimeria oocysts were detected from healthy rabbits (specimens of the day after weaning and one week later) in about 15% of specimens examined, but their presence in the sick animals was not signifi cantly associated with any cluster.

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Experimentally induced epizootic rabbit enteropathy: clinical, histopathologicaI, ultrastructural, bacteriological and haematological findings

Cited by 20 publications

References 16 publications

Effect of early feed restriction on performance and health status in growing rabbits slaughtered at 2 kg live-weight

Effect of early feed restriction on performance and health status in growing rabbits slaughtered at 2 kg live-weight

Characterisation of Clostridium perfringens presence and concentration of its α-toxin in the caecal contents of fattening rabbits suffering from digestive diseases

Clinical, pathological and microbiological profiles of spontaneous enteropathies in growing rabbits

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