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Occurrence, Histopathological Findings, and Molecular Identification of Pathogenic Eimeria Infections in Rabbits (Mammalia: Lagomorpha) in Japan

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Abstract

Purpose

Eimeria spp. are commonly found among rabbits (Mammalia: Lagomorpha) worldwide. Among the 11 Eimeria species, several are highly virulent, including E. intestinalis and E. flavescens, which cause intestinal coccidiosis, and E. stiedae, which causes hepatic coccidiosis. Unlike other countries, the occurrence of Eimeria infections in rabbits in Japan remains unknown, except for one reported case of natural infection.

Methods

We surveyed Eimeria infections in clinically affected rabbits over the past approximately 10 years at Livestock Hygiene Centers in 42 prefectures. A total of 16 tissue samples (14 liver, 1 ileum, and 1 cecum) were collected from 15 rabbits in 6 prefectures.

Results

Characteristic histopathologic findings were observed, especially around the bile ducts, depending on the developmental stages of the parasites. Eimeria stiedae and E. flavescens were successfully identified by PCR and sequencing analyses in 5 liver samples and 1 cecum sample, respectively.

Conclusion

Our results could enhance understanding of infection with Eimeria spp. in rabbits in Japan and contribute to pathological or molecular diagnoses.

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Fig. 1

Data Availability

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our appreciation to Drs. Taku Ueno (Hokkaido Abashiri Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Hokkaido Prefecture), Ryosuke Otake (Iwate Central Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Iwate Prefecture), Naoto Imai (Fukushima Central Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Fukushima Prefecture), Satomi Yamagishi (Saitama Central Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Saitama Prefecture), Shinya Tokutake (Matsumoto Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Nagano Prefecture), and Mayuko Oki (Oita Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Oita Prefecture) for kindly providing samples from rabbits. We thank Mrs. Rika Sekiguchi and Mrs. Noriko Asama for assistance with molecular analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Osaka Prefectural Government, Osaka, 598-0048, Japan

    Shigeaki Takami

  2. Division of Pathology and Pathophysiology, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0856, Japan

    Tomoyuki Shibahara

  3. Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-58 Rinku Orai Kita, Izumisano, Osaka, 598-8531, Japan

    Tomoyuki Shibahara, Kazumi Sasai & Makoto Matsubayashi

  4. Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia

    Makoto Matsubayashi

Authors
  1. Shigeaki Takami
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  2. Tomoyuki Shibahara
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  3. Kazumi Sasai
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  4. Makoto Matsubayashi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Makoto Matsubayashi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. All authors contributed equally in writing the manuscript.

Ethics statement

All experiments were carried out without handling live animals, and therefore, ethical approval for animal experimentation was not necessary. Veterinarians employed as civil servants by prefectural governments and/or associated with the Livestock Hygiene Service Centers examined the samples. No animals were sacrificed for the purposes of this study. The study did not require the involvement of human participants. The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.

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Takami, S., Shibahara, T., Sasai, K. et al. Occurrence, Histopathological Findings, and Molecular Identification of Pathogenic Eimeria Infections in Rabbits (Mammalia: Lagomorpha) in Japan. Acta Parasit. 68, 453–457 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-023-00678-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-023-00678-x

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