Prevalence of Lawsonia intracellularis, Salmonella spp. and Eimeria spp. in healthy and diarrheic pet rabbits

A total of 170 fresh fecal samples (healthy; n=137, diarrheic; n=33) were collected from pet rabbits. By using PCR and formol-ether concentration method, a total 13/137 healthy rabbit feces were positive for L. intracellularis, 6/137 for Salmonella, and 13/137 for Eimeria. On the other hand, a total 17/33 diarrheic rabbit fecal samples were positive for L. intracellularis, 10/33 for Salmonella, and 21/33 for Eimeria. From these results, more than 20% of clinically normal and 97% of diarrheic rabbits were positive for single or concurrent infection of three pathogens. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to describe the prevalence of the microorganisms L. intracellularis, Salmonella and Eimeria in pet rabbits.