sneezing bunny

[hailiejade]

my other rabbit bailey is around 4 months old ever since ive had him hes been a bit sneezy and has the occasional wet nose , otherwise hes very bouncy , has gd appetite , drinks plently , bright eyed active , no signs too indicate a sick bunny , im getting him checked out by a vet tomorrow to rule out infections as i lost my other bunny tyler on friday , hes also very vocal not in a bad way but he seems to grunt and hum a lot as though hes talking never seen such a vocal bunny before , also with pastuerella(bunny flu) is it contagious to humans i no theres been one case in the uk where a farmer picked up a dead rabbit on his farm that was infected and he became infected through a blister and un-fortunatly died , but how easy is it to catch and what are the symptoms in humans , also are there ways to prevent it and what could cause it , sorry for all the questions , im not very educated on this and am hearing more cases of it

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Pasteurella is zoonotic....it can pass from animal to human or human to animal. But....pasteurella is present subclinically in nearly all warm blooded mammals and birds.That means that we all have it (cats seem to havea particular fondness of this bacteria) but our immune systems can keep itsuppressed. It is usually found in the upper resipriatory system. An active infection can infect any body tissue. In case of the farmer in England...if he died from pasteurella, he was already too sick to be out of intensive care in a hospital. That sounds like a story that the news media picks up for senstionalism since they don't really know how to get a good story. In humans, the most likely cause of infection is a bite (and again, cats have notoriously dirty mouths) and the symptoms are usually a localized infection at thepoint of injury. Untreated or advanced cases have been known to cause joint issues and arthritis. I can tell you personally that an active pasteurella infection is quite painful when it comes from a bite injury...and that is first hand information. Since a human has a much greater range of antibiotics that wecan tolerate....if we do acquire an active infection and are in somewhat reasonably good health, this bacteria is easily controlled (at this point anyway) by several antibiotics that are readily available.

As far as your sneezing bunny...do not assume it is caused by pasteurella.While this bacteria is a prime cause of upper respiratory infections, it is not the only pathogen that can cause this. And it doesn't have to be a bacterial infectioneither. Some viral infections can cause this. Dental issues can cause this as well as allergies.

As far as prevention....general sanitation....wash your hands. In reality, you have a much higher chance of acquiring a disease from a public area...such as a restroom or even a door handle or telephone...than you do from a rabbit.

Randy