INTRODUCTION
This chapter is focused not only on laboratory rabbits but also on commercially raised rabbits and pet rabbits. It is difficult to draw the line on what diseases to cover, since many institutions obtain laboratory rabbits from commercial vendors that raise rabbits for other purposes.
In addition, many sources of rabbits are raised out of doors, which increases the potential for infectious disease transmission from wild rabbits. If a disease has been documented in laboratory rabbits, or if there is a potential for encountering a particular disease in laboratory rabbits, it is covered herein.Members of the order Lagomorpha have a worldwide distribution, and consist of 2 living families, including Ochotonidae (pikas) and Leporidae (rabbits and hares). There are several species of New World rabbits, including Sylvilagus spp. In addition, several species of hares (Lepus spp.) occupy both the New and the Old World. Sylvilagus and Lepus are not covered in this text, except when they relate to Oryctolagus. The only species of this order to have been domesticated is Oryctolagus cuniculus, which originated from wild European progenitors whose native range is the Iberian peninsula. This region is populated by 2 subspecies of wild rabbits, O. cuniculus ssp. algirus and O. cuniculus ssp. cuniculus. Domestic rabbits are genetically derived from O. cuniculus ssp. cuniculus. The exceptional phenotypic variation and ease with which to create new breeds of domestic rabbits exemplifies the limited gene pool among domestic rabbits. Recent genetic analysis of several rabbit breeds suggest a single origin of domestication in France approximately 1,500 years ago, which correlates with historical evidence of domestication within French monasteries. Two successive genetic bottlenecks appear to have taken place, with development of most modern breeds 200 years ago. Rabbits are raised extensively for meat production, which is estimated to yield over 1 million tons per year worldwide, and they are also popular as pets. The American Rabbit Breeders Association recognizes 47 breeds and the British Rabbit Council recognizes 50 breeds, with numerous varieties. It is estimated that there are over 200 breeds worldwide. One such breed is the Belgian hare, which is an O. cuniculus bred to phe- notypically resemble hares. A small number of nondomesticated European hares are bred in captivity in different parts of Europe. Laboratory rabbits are most often albino New Zealand White (NZW) and Dutch (Dutch Belted) breeds. There are a small number of inbred rabbit strains (which are difficult to maintain due to inbreeding depression), several rabbit lines with unique genetic traits that lend themselves to research such as the Watanabe rabbit (heritable hypercholesterolemia), and growing numbers of transgenic rabbits. Rabbits are used extensively for cardiovascular research, as well as production of polyclonal antiserum.
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