Actinomyces spp. Infection

Granulomatous osteitis of the head, spinal column, and limbs has been associated with Actinomyces spp. in domestic rabbits. This bacterium is one of many that can cause tooth-related abscesses, and one case of tooth abscess was associated with pulmonary abscessation.

Bordetella bronchiseptica Infection

Bordetella bronchiseptica may be recovered from the upper and lower respiratory tracts in both clinically normal and diseased animals, suggesting that it is relatively

FIG. 6.26. Acute fibrinopurulent bronchopneumonia in a young rabbit infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica. The terminal airway and alveoli are flooded with fibrin-rich exudate.

nonpathogenic in rabbits. A high percentage of conven­tional commercial rabbits have detectable antibodies to

B. bronchiseptica. Bordetella bronchiseptica tends to localize along the cilia of the respiratory epithelial cells of rabbits, and infections have been demonstrated to cause ciliostasis in the canine trachea. It is likely that initial or coinfections with Bordetella in airways may impair clearance mecha­nisms and thus facilitate Pasteurella multocida infection of the lower respiratory tract. Occasionally, outbreaks of respiratory disease occur among young rabbits that are attributed to primary B. bronchiseptica infections. Rabbits can serve as a source of infection for guinea pigs, a species particularly susceptible to B. bronchiseptica. Lesions associ­ated with B. bronchiseptica infections, when present, are fibrinopurulent bronchopneumonia (Fig. 6.26) and inter­stitial pneumonia. In chronic infections, there may be prominent peribronchial and perivascular cuffing with lymphocytes. The organism can be recovered in large numbers from respiratory tract lesions.