Emergence of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 in China in
2020
Running title: RHDV2 in China
Bo Hu#, Houjun Wei#, Zhiyu
Fan#, Yanhua Song, Mengmeng Chen, Rulong Qiu, Weifeng
Zhu, Weizhong Xu, Jiabin Xue, Fang Wang*
Institute of Veterinary Medicine,
Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Veterinary
Biologicals Engineering and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture,
National Center for Engineering Research of Veterinary Bio-products,
Nanjing 210014, China
*Corresponding author. Tel: +86 25 84390337; E-mail
address: rwangfang@126.com
#These authors contributed equally to this work.
Summary:Rabbit
hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is an acute fatal disease caused by thelagovirus rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), which was
first reported in 1984 in China. Strains of two different genotypes
(GI.1a and GI.1c) have been detected in China to date. In 2010, a new
RHDV variant with a unique genetic and antigenic profile was identified
in France, designated RHDV2, which rapidly spread throughout continental
Europe and nearby islands. Here, we report the first outbreak of RHD
induced by RHDV2 (GI.2) in rabbit farms in the Sichuan province of
China. We conducted hemagglutination tests and phylogenetic analysis of
the new RHDV isolate SC2020/04, which was identified as a
non-hemagglutinating strain belonging to the RHDV2 (GI.2) genogroup.
Considering the serious risk of RHDV2 to the Chinese rabbit industry,
the circulation of RHDV2 in the population should be carefully monitored
in China.
Key words: rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV2,Lagovirus , rabbits, China
INTRODUCTION
China is highly ranked in the global rabbit industry, accounting for
43% of the worldwide slaughtered rabbits with 44% of the global share
of rabbit meat output (Wu, Seema, & Huang, 2016). Rabbit hemorrhagic
disease virus (RHDV) of the family Caliciviridae , genusLagovirus , causes high morbidity and mortality in rabbits. Over
90% of RHDV-infected adult rabbits die owing to fulminant hepatic
failure within 3 days of infection (Park, Lee, & Itakura,1995). RHDV
was first reported in China in 1984. However, a new RHDV-related virus
designated RHDV2 was detected in France in 2010 (Le Gall-Recule et al.,
2013), subsequently spreading to other countries in Europe, Australia,
and Africa (Abrantes et al., 2013; Lopes et al., 2019; Mahar et al.,
2018; Puggioni et al., 2013).
Based on phylogenetic analyses of RHDV VP60 sequences, RHDV is divided
into classical RHDV (GI.1) and RHDV2 (GI.2). Two RHDV genotype strains
are considered to be present in China, G2 (GI.1a) and G6 (GI.1c) (Hu et
al., 2017). Here, we report a new RHDV isolate collected from three
infected rabbits at farms in the Sichuan province of China in April
2020.