What to Know about 'Bunny Ebola' -- the Rabbit Virus Sweeping the Southwest US

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/bunny-ebola-rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease/

A deadly virus is spreading with alarming speed among wild and domestic rabbits in seven southwestern states. The contagion causes an illness called rabbit hemorrhagic disease that has earned the nickname "bunny Ebola" because the disease causes massive internal bleeding and bloody discharge around the nose and mouth. The virus kills swiftly-as happened in February, when pet rabbits boarding at a veterinary practice in Manhattan suddenly began to die without warning, The New Yorker reported last month.

The disease is deeply worrying for domestic rabbit owners and could also have consequences for wild rabbit, hare, and pika populations. An outbreak last year in northwestern Washington state had devastating impacts on both feral and pet rabbits. Now animal health officials are tracking its spread and trying to protect their most endangered rabbits from a disease that is very contagious and has a high mortality rate.

"They both represent a longtime fear that has come true," says Susan Kerr, an education and outreach specialist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

[...] Known as rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2), it can kill infected rabbits within a few days by causing widespread inflammation, problems with blood clotting and bleeding, and organ failure. "The organs can't do their functions anymore because there is so much blood in them," Kerr says.

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