Back From RWA Conference EC update

Well quite a few rabbit rescue workers went to the RWA conference in Nottingham yesterday

Was very good although most of us felt that if we attend next year we would gain more by being in the vets conference rooms rather than the general ones. Alot of information given we were already aware of but there were one or two very interesting points.

My favourite speaker was Neil Forbes who gave a very informative lecture on E. Cuniculi.
A few guidelines he suggested we will be implementing and the background knowledge was very interesting

And for those of you who have been treating your rabbits with the special Rabbit Panacur 9 day course for Ec or EC prevention..his opinion was..it probably won't help
He suggested the paste was only a wormer and the EC control side of it was based on a very small test completed on only 8 rabbits quite a few years back and will have no long term effect on any rabbit carrying or coming into contact with EC. due to the lifecycle of parasite/timing of shedding of spores

This is something I have always thought so was relieved to hear an expert with the same view.
He stated that a 28 day course..along side quarantine and a thorough disinfect of hutch and area at 21 days into course and 28 days into course..will rid the bun of active disease..
but if a new rabbit is introduced this would have to be repeated.
If no new animals brought in to existing ones area..then no further prevention should be necessary unless actual signs of EC are presented..he was of the opinion that excessive use of Panacur may not be a good thing.

His advice will be hard work for any rescue to follow but may well be worth it.
For other rabbit owners the one off 28 day and disinfecting routine would be a good idea..as EC is now so common amongst bunnies and causes so many probelms
Thought you all may like to know!

thank you for keeping us informed!

and on a side note, really hope Levi is doing well and gets home soon.

Thanks for that Jill, I'm interested too, my vet said the same about the 9 day treatment, that it wasn't effective for EC. When I raised that here there was mixed feelings about it, but I think there is confusion about Panacur in general. The makers really should have cleared all this up by now

That's very interesting Jill, thank you for posting it.

I find the whole subject a bit confusing I have to admit - I know there has been scepticism about whether the 9 day course is any good for prevention of EC.

On the subject of a 28 day course for treating EC - I thought the recommended length of time was now 42 days or 6 weeks?

I'm still not convinced by a few points raised at the conference, firstly no-one has yet been able to explain to me the significance of day 21 in the cleaning routine, it can't be to do with the spore cycle because you have no way of knowing at what stage of the spore cycle you started Panacuring. I'm unclear if it is just an arbitrary day to commence a primary clean on so that the clean on day 28 fully eradicates any environmental spores or if it really has a significant purpose in the internal eradication progression.

Secondly I am not certain how practical it is in a domestic (let alone rescue) environment to have 100% eradicated all EC spores and therefor be certain a one off course of 28 days is satisfactory. I presume the tests to date have been performed in a sterile laboratory.

I am going to attempt to get my hands on the notes from the veterinary stream and will update anything useful if I can.

I'm baffled by the day 21 thing too...

SarahP wrote:I'm baffled by the day 21 thing too...

I'm glad it's not just me

Definitely not - what you say makes sense, in that the life cycle of the spore can't really be taken into account for this mysterious day 21. I did wonder if it was something to do with the action of the Panacur on the spores, ie. I'm not sure exactly how it kills the spores, and that maybe that has some significance, but I'm clutching at straws totally!

The whole Panacur/EC debate leaves me more and more confused. I wait to see what Sooz can find out.

The thought of treating Herbie for 28 days makes me feel though. He is more difficult to dose than getting a pill into a cat.

Thanks for the update Jill and I look forward to what you can find out Sooz x

I'm not sure why 21 days either..but have always thought the 9 days was a waste of money
But will start trying this regime as EC is so widespread has to be worth a shot

My vet Anita has very kindly agreed to photocopy the full veterinary stream notes from the RWA conference for me to read so hopefully I will have a better understanding of how thinking has progressed. Apparently the speaker at the conference didn't clarify why day 21 was so important at all during the presentation.

Will update with anything useful once I have processed the information.

Sixer wrote:The whole Panacur/EC debate leaves me more and more confused. I wait to see what Sooz can find out.

The thought of treating Herbie for 28 days makes me feel though. He is more difficult to dose than getting a pill into a cat.

We have had 100% success in pancuring buns by putting drops directly on to SS pellets and hand feeding them. It's time consuming but it works for us every time and saves the stress of direct oral dosing, then they get the rest of their normal breakfast/supper.

So I take it the RWAF never really let anyone know of the study conclusions undertaken in 2004 http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/ecuniculi.htm

And Brigitte Reusch got a grant to study EC http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/index.php?section=ec.html , but there's no date on it.

Lynda wrote:So I take it the RWAF never really let anyone know of the study conclusions undertaken in 2004 http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/ecuniculi.htm

And Brigitte Reusch got a grant to study EC http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/index.php?section=ec.html , but there's no date on it.

The RWAF one is actually really outdated now and to my knowledge the results of the Brigitte Reusch one have not been published. The data from the conference was apparently from a study carried out on just 8 rabbits and I believe Marie Kubiak was involved in the research, I'm personally reserving judgement until I have read the information for myself but as Anita put it "the goalposts have moved once again".

Hmmmm... I wonder what Dana Kremple on allexperts views are on it

*goes to see...*

The study carried out on the 8 rabbits was the one that suggested the 9 day course..another reason it is now being questioned as such a small number of animals to base info on

This is an extract from a presentation by Anna Meredith at the World Small Animal's Veterinary Congress in Dublin last year :

Response to treatment varies, with successful treatment
depending on whether the infection is acute or chronic.
Chronic cases usually present with central nervous
system signs and in these cases, where cell damage is
severe, treatment may not be successful. In acute cases
clinical signs may be treated with fenbendazole at 20
mg/kg orally q24h for 28 days, and in some cases this can
prove very effective. There has only been one small study
on the use of fenbendazole in rabbits (Suter et al 2001)
and our current dosing regimes are based solely on this.
However, although found to be effective, the dosages
and lengths of treatment given are not well justified, and
more work needs to be done to see if shorter treatment
courses can be as effective, especially as the current
28 day recommendation can be difficult for owners
to comply with. Fenbendazole is also marketed in the
UK for prophylactic treatment at 20 mg/kg q24h for 9
days. This was based on a small trial where rabbits were
treated for 7 days before and 2 days after experimental
infection with E.cuniculi, so again it may not be the
optimum regime. Fenbendazole has no residual effect
and so the rabbit is only protected from exposure on the
days when it is receiving the drug, so it has limited use
in situations where risk of prolonged exposure is high.
Glucocorticoids, such as dexamethasone or prednisolone,
may also be given to reduce inflammation, although
they should be used with care and for a short time only
in rabbits, as they are immunosuppressive.
Traditionally Microsporidia have been considered
protozoal organisms, however more recent research
has indicated that they may be more closely related to
fungi, since they contain chitin and trehalose. Treatment
of E. cuniculi infection in humans is with albendazole,
however more recent in vitro work has shown polyoxin
D and nikkomycin Z, which inhibit chitin synthetase
enzymes, may also be effective.
Prevention
Prevention of infection may not be possible since the
parasite is widespread in the pet rabbit population.
Many rabbits are likely to have been exposed at the time
of purchase, either in utero or from conspecifics, so there
is an argument for treating all newly acquired pet rabbits
once to eliminate the parasite if it is present in the body.
This should only need to be done once if the rabbit
is not going to be exposed further to environmental
spores. Seroconversion precedes renal shedding, so
in-contact rabbits should be serologically screened to
identify infected animals before the parasite is excreted,
in an outbreak. These animals may be isolated and
treated with fenbendazole. When a case is diagnosed,
infection of in-contact rabbits may be prevented by
prophylactic administration of fenbendazole, or they
can be treated on presumption of infection in order
to prevent the development of clinical signs at a later
date. Strict hygiene practices are vital; minimisation of
urine contamination of food and water supplies by use
of water bottles, hay racks etc. and routine disinfection
to kill spores.