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E.Cunculi titre test

N

Nicola3

Mama Doe
Hi soz to go on.......................................:shock:

As one of my girlie buns has tested positive for E.C. Six months ago she tested negative so in between that time she has been exposed to E.C.
When she has other blood tests will she ever test negative or will she always test positive as she has been exposed to E.C?


One more thing. When she has been treated for E.C. and hopefully is clear of it will she always remain a possible threat to other buns?

Nicola and Harvey xxx
 
There is such limited research available but the idea of a titre is that she will always test positive but to a lesser degree than when she has an active infection because the titre measures antibodies and not spores.

Therefor her body should keep back some antibodies in order to fight the infection should she become re-infected.....much like the way vaccines are engineered to work (exposure to disease to trigger antibody production to fight off the disease should natural exposure occur).

Once she is clear of EC she will not remian a threat to other rabbits as she will only be testing positive for antibodies NOT EC spores.
 
Thanks Sooz :wave:

Soz for all the questions. I won't be able to annoy you all during the w/e as I don't have a pc at home:D I leave work at 12 today so I just wanted to get a few 'Qs' in before I leave.

So it's not like one of these diseases that lie dormant and then can be triggered again in the future?

I have been reading up about it and there seems to be a lot of contradicting info on the net. Some say that a bun can become infected and then clear the infection on its own. This is what I read on the net under the British House Rab Assoc. but I, like you thought that if a bun had been exposed to EC they would always test postive as they would have built up antibodies against EC.


How would I know if my bunny has E. cuniculi?

Antibodies to E. cuniculi can be detected on a blood test. Hence, a rabbit that has been infected to E cuniculi will produce antibodies that will produce a positive test. However, some rabbits appear to clear the infection completely and over time their blood test will become negative again.

Until very recently, the tests available in the UK could not distinguish between current and past infection. A negative result basically ruled out E. cuniculi as the cause of the illness but a positive result only told you that the bunny had been infected at some point in time, and did not help to determine whether the infection was recent and ongoing.

However, quantitative tests, which can actually measure the levels of antibody in the blood sample (not just whether they are there are not) recently became available in the UK, introduced by Medlab in Cheshire. By testing two separate samples (taken with an interval between then) it is now possible to determine if a rabbit is mounting an immune response to an active E. cuniculi infection.

So would a high titre test indicate an active infection or that the rabbit had just built up a good immune response to the parasite? I suppose you would need to do another test to find out whether the titre had gone up or down?

Nicola and Harvey xxx
 
A hight titre would only indocate an active infection if it had or went on to increase. Capel's Nia has a high EC Titre after 4 months and had ben Panacured for 8 weeks but its stable so it indicates residual antibodies.

I do believe its possible for a rabbit to rid itself of EC (through antibodies) but it would likely take longer with more danger of re-infection than by supporting them with fenbendazole treatment.

A rabbit can become re-infected in the future by re-contracting the disease from another rabbit. Whilst the antibodies are at work fighting the protozoa it is still possible for spores to be shed so the rabbit is still contagious to others.

The fact that EC can be carried indicates it can be present without causing symptoms, this would be put down to a good immune response on behalf of the host. Rabbits who go on to develop symptoms would probably develop them anyway due to a poorer immune response and so its not that the infection tends to lie dormant, rather a rabbit is either susceptable to it or not.

A lot of this is speculation as so much more reserach is needed to draw definitive conclusions.
 
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4 months of panacuring? A stable result...that means that active infection is no longer present?

My girlie tested negative 6 months ago and now has quite a high titre test but that doesn't neccessarliy mean she has an active infcetion does it? She might just have mounted a good immune response to it?

She is on her own now until she has finished her course of panacur.

Nicola and Harvey xxx
 
The titre needs to be repeated at least twice more to establish whether the anti-body level is rising, falling or static and to determine if the infection is active.

I think Nia was wormed for 8 weeks, but had been titre tested over 4 months? I would suspect the levels will slowly decline over time though.
 
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