RHDV2 News
All rabbits adopted from Missouri House Rabbit Rescue are fully vaccinated for RHDV2.
The spread of RHDV2, once it hit the U.S., spread rapidly throughout the Western states and has popped up in several other areas within the U.S.
When Medgene developed a vaccine, Missouri was approved by the state veterinarian to receive it and we immediately had every bunny in our shelter and foster system vaccinated to protect them from this deadly disease.
RHDV2 stands for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Type-2. The disease only affects rabbits and hares. It does not affect humans or other animals but is highly contagious for rabbits and usually fatal. The vaccine is a two-dose process with the second dose given three weeks after the first dose. It’s recommended as an annual vaccine after that. New rabbits coming into our shelter are brought into our isolation Intake Room. Rabbits coming in for nail trims, boarding, or any MO HRR event must have proof of a current vaccination.
How RHDV2 Spreads: The RHDV2 virus is very resistant to extreme temperatures. It can be spread through direct contact or exposure to an infected rabbit’s excretions or blood. The virus can also survive and spread from carcasses, food, water, and contaminated materials. People can spread the virus indirectly by carrying it on their clothing and shoes. A rabbit in the house walking across the floor where someone wearing contaminated shoes has walked can catch the virus. Any vector, such as insects or anything that touches an infected surface can pass along the virus.
Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, bleeding, loss of appetite, lethargy, fever, jaundice, seizures, and sudden death. Most rabbits die within hours to days after exposure, while asymptomatic carriers can shed the virus for over a month. The virus impairs the blood’s ability to clot, and death is most often caused by liver failure, or internal or external bleeding.
There is no known cure and treatment is limited to supportive care. That's why receiving this vaccine is so vital to protecting the life of your rabbit. The virus is extremely resilient in the environment and can survive and remain infectious without a host for three and a half months at +25°C(77F) and for as long as seven and a half months at +4 °C (39F). Even at +60 °C (140F), the virus can survive for 2-3 days. Many routes of viral transmission can occur throughout the year, but infection rates peak at times when the virus is being spread quickly by flying insects, which are among its carriers. The blood-sucking insects that carry the virus include mosquitoes, biting flies, lice, mites, and rabbit flea.
Direct transmission routes: feces, urine, saliva, nasal and eye secretions, mating, any contact with an infected rabbit including a wild rabbit. Indirect transmission routes: Insects, wild birds, rodents, clothing, shoes, dogs, cats, people, food, cleaning equipment, tools, cages, and bedding. It is so contagious and long-lived that it was carried on the surface of something going from the mainland to Hawaii where it infected rabbits there.
Here are some websites for more information:
It is important to note that any suspicious rabbit death (domestic or wild) needs to be reported to your state veterinarian or your local veterinarian.
There has been no confirmed case yet in Missouri or Illinois, but we are preparing at the Bunny House and we want you to be prepared, too. These are the states with reported RHDV2 infections.
Biosecurity measures are insufficient. The only means to protect your rabbit(s) from this contagious and deadly disease is by having them vaccinated.
Precautions can still be used. Any surface that comes in contact with the virus can become a fomite, which is a carrier of the disease. For example, if a fly lands on an infected rabbit (living or dead) the fly is a fomite. If the fly lands on some produce, now the produce is a fomite carrying the disease. All produce should be washed thoroughly before they are given to your rabbit.
Another biosecurity measure is to become accustomed to removing your shoes in your home as the virus can be tracked inside on the bottom of your shoes. However, it’s impossible to prevent all contact with the disease. The dog or cat going out in the yard can bring the disease back inside if there is an infected fomite in the yard. An infected fly or mosquito can bring it inside the house and everywhere it lands is now infected.
Vaccination is the best thing you can do to protect your rabbit.