Proliferative enteropathy of rabbits: the intracellular Campylobacter-like organism is closely related to Lawsonia intracellularis.

The intracellular Campylobacter-like organism associated with proliferative enteropathy of rabbits is closely related to Lawsonia intracellularis, the primary pathogen in porcine intestinal adenomatosis. Polymerase chain reaction primers based on the 16S rRNA gene of L. intracellularis were used to amplify DNA harvested from intestinal tissues of rabbits with severe proliferative intestinal lesions containing curved argentophilic intracellular bacteria. Sequencing of a 180-nucleotide DNA fragment of the 550-base pair-amplified polymerase chain reaction product revealed >98% similarity between the organism associated with the rabbit disease and the homologous sequence found in L.intracellularis.