The deadly rabbit virus, nicknamed ‘bunny ebola’, spreads in the southwestern United States.

• A highly contagious rabbit virus has spread to seven southwestern states since April.
• A veterinarian nicknamed the disease “Bunny Ebola” because it causes severe internal bleeding in rabbits, hares, and pikas.
• Thousands of wild and domestic rabbits have died in the United States during this outbreak, which experts say is not under control.
• American veterinarians are importing rabbit vaccines from France or Spain.
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As the United States struggles to control its coronavirus outbreak, another virus is wreaking havoc on the country’s rabbit population.

In seven southwestern states, thousands of wild and domestic rabbits are dying from a rare outbreak of a highly contagious disease known as rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV2).

“We refer to him as the ‘Ebola bunny,'” Dr. Amanda Jones, a veterinarian from Killeen, Texas, told The Cut. While the rabbit virus “is not related in any way whatsoever” to Ebola, a virus that causes severe bleeding, organ failure, and death in humans and primates, Jones said that RHDV2 devastates the bodies of rabbits in a similar way. .

The virus causes damage to the organs and tissues of rabbits, leading to internal bleeding and death. Often the only external sign that the animals are infected occurs after they die: After suddenly falling dead, their noses leak blood.

Since April, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed cases of RHDV2 in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas. Parts of western Mexico have also been affected by the virus.

A virus that ‘moved like crazy’

This outbreak is the fourth time RHDV2 has been reported in the United States. (Variants of the virus have spread to almost every continent since scientists reported the first case in China 35 years ago.) But it is the first time that the virus has spread beyond pets to hit rabbits, pikas. and hares native to North America. Cottontail, snowshoe hares and hares have gotten sick.

“The fact that this is found in multiple counties and rabbits is why this is so concerning,” Eric Stewart, executive director of the American Rabbit Breeders Association, told VIN News. “And then hearing that it’s burning through wild rabbit populations, that, of course, further fuels our concerns.”

National Park Service / Flickr

In 2018, the virus appeared among rabbits in Ohio, then a separate outbreak occurred in Washington state. In late February, more than a dozen rabbits died at the Avian and Exotic Medicine Center in Manhattan, succumbing to the virus in minutes amid violent seizures.

This outbreak from the southwest, which appeared in Arizona and New Mexico a month later, is unrelated to those three.

“We still have no idea where it originated,” Ralph Zimmerman, a New Mexico state veterinarian, told Cut. “It is covered in snow and it moved like crazy.”

Nearly 500 animals in New Mexico became infected between March and June.

“We had a guy with 200 rabbits, and he lost them all between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday night,” added Zimmerman. “It just happened and killed everything.”

New Mexican officials instituted a depopulation policy, The Cut reported. If a rabbit in a house contracted the disease, the state requires that the remaining rabbits in the nest be euthanized. That led to the killing of 600 other animals in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

By April, researchers had also reported cases in rabbit populations in Colorado, Texas, and Nevada. Dozens more appeared in California and Utah.

“I am going to be really honest with you. I think there are more cases than have been reported,” Jones told The Cut.

A highly contagious virus and difficult to kill.

The “Ebola of the Bunny” kills with amazing efficiency.

Once an animal is infected, the virus is incubated in just three days. Some rabbits begin to lose appetite and energy, although others show no external symptoms before they drop dead.

Ultimately, the rabbits’ organs (livers and spleens) fail and their blood stops clotting properly. In the current outbreak, officials reported a death rate of about 90%. Surviving rabbits become a serious danger to others as they continue to kill viruses for almost two months.

Mark Rightmire / MediaNews Group / Orange County Register via Getty Images

RHDV2 spreads easily through blood, urine, and feces.

While the virus cannot infect humans or other types of animals, it can attach itself to hair, shoes, and clothing to move between bunnies. If a rabbit touches a surface contaminated by viral particles, it could get sick. Insects that roam between rabbits can also spread particles.

The virus is also difficult to kill: it can live for more than three months at room temperature. It survives at temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit for at least an hour and cannot be killed by freezing, according to the House Rabbit Society.

Also, the virus has no cure, and getting a vaccine in the US is a slow process.

Getting vaccinated in the US takes weeks

Since the virus originated abroad, a licensed vaccine is not yet available in the U.S.

Flickr / lioracodor

Instead, vets like Zimmerman and Jones have to apply for USDA permission to import vaccines from Spain and France. That approval process takes at least a month.

Jones told The Cut that he placed his order in mid-April and received it on June 9; One of Zimmerman’s orders took five weeks to arrive.

The USDA is working to produce an RHDV2 vaccine domestically, but the process will likely take a year or more, according to the House Rabbit Society.

“This is not going to go away,” Jones said. “This is a new problem that is here to stay.”