Clinical Signs, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Encephalitozoon cuniculi Infection in Rabbits

Hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia as biochemical markers of disease in companion rabbits

“…While antemortem diagnosis of E cuniculi infection can be challenging, it is widely accepted clinical practice that compatible clinical signs in the absence of other diseases, together with increased serum titers, classifies a rabbit as highly suspicious for infection and warranting treatment . All rabbits with presumptive E cuniculi infection in our study also had partial or complete resolution of signs at follow‐up visits two weeks to one month after initiation of standard medical treatment consisting of fenbendazole, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, and fluids . Additional studies could assist in further characterizing a relationship between E cuniculi infection and lipid profiles.…”

Türkiye’de Tavşan Gözünde Encephalitozoon cuniculi’nin İlk Moleküler Tayini ve Genotiplemesi

“…In later years, the infection was identified serologically and histopathologically using diagnostic methods in rabbits [10] . This eukaryotic organism can be found in renal, eye and central nervous tissues of infected rabbits [6,12] .…”

“…In the kidney, infection is usually asymptomatic. In the eye, this agent causes damage to the lens, causing phacoclastic uveitis, loss of vision, hypopyon and cataracts, particularly in cases of transplacental transmission [10,[12][13][14] .…”

“…Therefore, a clinician can observe ocular lesion formations in rabbits during daily inspection or ophthalmological examination. Presently, PCR has been accepted as a highly specific and sensitive molecular diagnostic tool for the detection of E. cuniculi spores [4,10] . Even though our previous study (unpublished data) reported on ocular lesions due to the infection, to our knowledge there has been no report on the molecular diagnosis of the parasite to date in Turkey.…”

Disease Overview of the Urinary Tract in Exotic Companion Mammals and Tips on Clinical Management

“…The problem relates to difficulties in establishing a diagnosis, and the observation that many affected rabbits recover spontaneously without treatment. 42 Rabbits with severe renal disease secondary to E cuniculi may not harbor renal organisms, and treatment is focused on managing acute or chronic renal failure. Treatment of E cuniculi has relied on benzimidazoles, such as fenbendazole, 42 but recently severe disease and deaths have been reported in rabbits treated with this class of drugs.…”