Examination of the applicability of a commercial human rotavirus antigen detection kit for use in laboratory rabbits.

The applicability of a commercial human rotavirus detection kit for the detection of lapine rotavirus in laboratory rabbits was examined. Rotavirus antigen positive samples determined by the kit were shown to include lapine rotavirus by reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction and restriction endonuclease analysis. The kit was confirmed to be adequate for the detection of lapine rotavirus by these results. The kit is suggested to be useful for the management of laboratory rabbits because of its ability to detect rotavirus antigen excretion which occurs in the early stage of the infection. It will contribute to minimizing the loss of rabbits in the event of an outbreak.