Abstract:

To investigate the prevalence of major infectious diseases in rabbit farms in Zhejiang Province, the epidemiological survey was carried out to isolate, identify the serotype of pathogenic bacteria. It was found that respiratory infectious diseases, mainly characterized by sneezing and nasal discharge of serous, mucous or purulent secretions, existed in most rabbit farms. Thus, rabbits with severe respiratory diseases from two farms in Ningbo and Shengzhou were sampled for bacterial isolation and identification, serotyping, and drug sensitivity test. Based on the colonial morphology, characters of gram-staining, specific PCR, and capsule seroptyping, the bacterium were identified as capsule seroptype A Pasteurella multocida, which were named as ZJNB0321 and ZJSZ0322, respectively. The evolutionary tree results showed that the two isolates belonged to the same clade, and were in the same clade as Pasteurella multocida, but they had their own separate clade. The results of the drug sensitivity test indicated that the bacterium showed different drug sensitive characteristics. This study provides scientific basis for rational drug use, and development of effective control measures for rabbit farms.

Key words: rabbit, respiratory disease, Pasteurella multocida, capsule serotype, drug sensitivity test