EC study in the UK

[pla725]

It's reported in this quarter's Rabbiting On (the magazine of the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund) that RWF has awarded a grant to vets Sharon Redrobe and Richard Saunders of the Bristol University Rabbit Clinic, so that an important study can be carried out into the effectiveness of toxicity of the different treatment regimes that are recommended to treat E Cuniculi. Although some research has been carried out in recent years into EC in rabbits, there is still much that needs to be learnt about the infection.

The article goes on to say that the study will involve diagnosing EC infection in apparently healthy pet rabbits using a variety of tests that are commonly used by vets in practice Positive rabbits will then be treated with the currently recommended medicine, fenbendazole, for varying periods of time, as suggested by different manufacturers.

The rabbits will be monitored carefully for any adverse side effects of the medication. If any harmful side effects are noted then treatment will stop immediately and the rabbits will be treated appropriately to recover. the rabbits will also be closely monitored to see what happens to the antibody levels and shedding of the parasite via the urine during and after treatment. In this way the study will discover a number of things - whether the treatment stops parasite shedding via the urine and how quickly, how treatment affects the antibody levels, how long the treatment takes to act and what length of treatment might be best to treat the parasite yet avoid any problems in the rabbit. It will also reveal whether longer or shorter courses of the treatment badly affect the rabbit at all.

Sharone Redrobe said, "This will all lead to a better understanding of what we are using this medication for and how well it works under different circumstances. This is an exciting study which will reveal a lot about this commonly diagnosed disease. We will be working on this project over the summer and will report back with the results later in the year."

 

[pla725]

Never mind.

 

[Maureen Las]

Actually I thought it was already established that fenbendazole is really only a partial and sometimes ineffective treatment for EC andI think that info came from Randy who is experimenting with Marquis/Ponazuril .
what is strange is that off the top of my head I cannot think of a toxic reaction to fenbendazole but then again i used it only once and it really didn't do anything as my rabbit's problem was probably not EC anyway ..

Since fenbendazole/ albendazole is really about the onlly thing available to us at this time for EC it still will be interesting research. According to Randy Ponazuril/ Marquis is very expensive.
Most vets don't know anything about its use for EC (as far as I know)

In terms of treating positive rabbitsI thought a rabbit could be a positive and be asympotmatic so i wonder if they are treating positive rabbits with symptoms???

 

[ra7751]

Research on EC is a bit lacking. We have learned a lot about EC and how to treat it, what it really does and what drugs are effective. We know the "bendazoles" are ineffective. That is quite simple....the drug can't pass the blood/brain barrier to get to the parasite. The idea behind dosing a "bendazole" long term is the hope that some will get thru. We have been using Ponazuril (Marquis) for quite some time. We know it passes the barrier in horses....and horses and rabbits are almost identical in medical terms. Horses are affected by a similar protozoan known as Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM). We have also found that many of the other "miracle" treatments are also ineffective. The real truth is that nearly every domestic rabbit has been exposed and carries EC. At this time, the only "diagnostic" for ECis physical presentations and blood titers. The titer only shows that there are antibiodies to the parasite...which means exposure and again, all domestic rabbits will most likely titer positive. The onlytrue diagnosis is post mortem. We know what the initial presentations are. We know how to respond to the infection. We know how to respond to the compromised immune system that causes roving bacterialinfections. We can support the kidneys up to a point. But, once we have presentations, the damage has already been done in the brain and to a lesser extent in the kidneys. At that point, the best you can hope for in treatment is a stalemate. Halt the damage. What we need isn't a treatment...we need a vaccine to prevent this parasite from doing any damage at all. That is what we should be pushing for....and I hope these research people will use the grant money wisely and come up with a vaccine.

Randy

 

[Maureen Las]

Is there such a thing as a vaccine to a protozoal infection?

 

[Flashy]

Info in the UK is SHOCKING when it comes to EC. Most people are still believing that head tilt is caused by EC and treat with fenbendazole. In fact, when I said otherwise, I got shouted down and some people got very nasty about it and told me I knew nothing. Score.

I'm hoping this will be really beneficial to rabbits in the UK, but also rabbits further afield too.

Thank you for sharing. I hope they do some good with this.

 

[tonyshuman]

I am always happy to see research being done, even if it is using an outdated treatment. That way, we'll have a systematic, scientific approach to treatment that can be assessed to get a definitive answer about EC treatment with the bendazoles. If, as we suspect based on what we know about how ineffective fenbendazole is at treating EC, they find that it's not a good treatment, there will be a solid reason to research other treatments, even new treatments, or a vaccine.

It is very hard to create vaccines for many parasites, because they are able to hide from the host's immune system in some very effective ways. Some parasites even coat themselves in living blood cells so avoid being taken out of the blood stream--that way the immune system can't recognize them as foreign and get rid of them. It would probably be possible to create a vaccine to EC. Since it's present at such low levels throughout the life of a rabbit, the body doesn't recognize it as a potentially dangerous invader.

 

[bunnymommy76]

That's great! Like Randy said,I would love to see a vaccine for this terrible disease. I still think that that was part of my poor Pidgeys problem. Any new information that can be learned about EC is wonderful!

 

[PumpkinandAnna]

Hello,

New to forums and rabbit owning, and my poor Pumpkin has been diagnosed with EC after only a month of having him, he's recovering slowly, and I really hope he will be okay.

If any fellow pet owners could help a hypochondriac out, and share their experiences of human infection, the vet said the possibility is small, I was wondering if anyone had been effected by EC and if so what were the symptoms/ how was it treated?

Many thanks,
Anna

 

[Joyce Guardado]

Hello,

New to forums and rabbit owning, and my poor Pumpkin has been diagnosed with EC after only a month of having him, he's recovering slowly, and I really hope he will be okay.

If any fellow pet owners could help a hypochondriac out, and share their experiences of human infection, the vet said the possibility is small, I was wondering if anyone had been effected by EC and if so what were the symptoms/ how was it treated?if you have any other bunnies they should be treated at the same time.
Jazz had EC we treated her for 30 days and my other 2 bunnies for 14 though Jazz is 10 she has bounced back fairly well for a elderly bunny.
EC is a terrible disease and you generally won’t see symptoms until your bunny is quite ill.
Due to the fact they are prey animals they will hide their illness.
The others are right we need a vaccine
Many bunnies are exposed in utero and carry the disease for years before we notice it

Many thanks,
Anna

 

[ravenmoore36]

Haven't been on for quite awhile. Variety of reasons.
My baby girl developed economies and generously gave it to me.....I'm immuno deficent.
This was a while ago now.
I found lethargy showed me my baby had the disease.
With the right medication she did reasonably well.
We were sent to Trinity vets in Maidstone.....they really know their stuff on EC.
Yes a vaccination desperately needed

 

[JBun]

Hello,

New to forums and rabbit owning, and my poor Pumpkin has been diagnosed with EC after only a month of having him, he's recovering slowly, and I really hope he will be okay.

If any fellow pet owners could help a hypochondriac out, and share their experiences of human infection, the vet said the possibility is small, I was wondering if anyone had been effected by EC and if so what were the symptoms/ how was it treated?

Many thanks,
Anna

Human contraction of EC is rare, and the primary risk is if you have an illness that makes you immunosuppressed(such as those with AIDS, lymphoma, taking immunosuppressive medications).
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm

 

[RWAF]

There is also information here https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/e-cuniculi/