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Updated: May 14, 2026

A Versatile Model of Hard Tick Infestation on Laboratory Rabbits
Published on: October 6, 2018
Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli prevalence in laboratory rabbits
Alton G Swennes1, Ellen M Buckley, Carolyn M Madden
1Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. aswennes@mit.edu
Abstract:
Rabbit-origin enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) causes substantial diarrhea-associated morbidity and has zoonotic potential. A culture-based survey was undertaken to ascertain its prevalence. EPEC was isolated from 6/141 (4.3%) commercially-acquired laboratory rabbits. Three of these did not have diarrhea or EPEC-typical intestinal lesions; they instead had background plasmacytic intestinal inflammation. Asymptomatically infected rabbits may function as EPEC reservoirs.

