DEVELOPMENT OF A DIAGNOSTIC-APPROACH TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF RABBIT HEMORRHAGIC-DISEASE

Haemagglutination and ELISA tests, and negative contrast electron micr oscopy, have been used to identify rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus i n naturally occurring cases of the disease and in experimentally infec ted rabbits in the United Kingdom. Haemagglutination tests alone are n ot satisfactory for the diagnosis because non-haemagglutinating isolat es of the virus, otherwise indistinguishable from others, have been fo und in some outbreaks, Haemagglutination inhibition tests have shown t hat a proportion of both commercial laboratory and wild rabbits in the UK are seropositive to the virus although they have not been associat ed with clinical disease, This observation, made previously in other p arts of Europe, may indicate the longstanding circulation of a related but nonpathogenic strain of virus, Naturally occurring antibody appea rs to afford a high degree of protection against experimental challeng e with virulent virus.