CASE SIMULATION -
SICK RABBITS
Written by Corrie Brown, University of GeorgiaThe FAD case simulations are entirely fictional and designed for
instruction and increased awareness. They do not represent actual events. |
| You are a field veterinary medical officer
(VMO) employed by USDA. Your job is to inspect various facilities to ensure
compliance with federal regulations. Another aspect of your job is to keep a watch
out for anything unusual that could be an emerging disease or a foreign disease entering
the U.S. You are making a routine inspection to ensure adequate health care at the
Morgan County Fair, when you hear of some disturbing news. In the 4H pavilion, of 42
rabbits on exhibit, 5 have died and another 8 are very ill. The exhibitors are
distraught and when they find out that you are a veterinarian, they beg for your
help. |
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| You have no choice. You head for the
rabbit pavilion, ready to be a disease detective. The first rabbit you see looks
like this one: |
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| You enter the rabbit pavilion. People
in the building look fairly distressed. A quick survey indicates that this building
houses only rabbits. Other than a few Homo sapiens, rabbits are the only
species in here. Looking at the husbandry, you notice that all the cages are fairly
clean and that all rabbits have access to water and commercial rabbit feed. The
cages are positioned such that many are next to one another so that quite few rabbits have
nose-to-nose contact. Also, the bottoms of the cages are positioned such that feces
can roll from just beneath the wire in one cage to just beneath the wire in another cage
(in other words, they have potential access to one another's feces). |
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| Where do the rabbits come from? They
come from all over the state. The sick and dead rabbits are not clustered from any
particular geographic area. |
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| Time to examine the rabbits. Remember
to examine the healthy rabbits, like this one, first. Why? |
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Animal Disease Case Studies Menu |
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