Chapteb, III 

 COCCIDIOSIS 



This is by far the most important disease of 

 the rabbit, both on accomit of its prevalence 

 and on accoimt of the variety of the lesions 

 produced. As stated before, adult rabbits are 

 often the carriers of coccidia without showing 

 any symptoms themselves. Yoimg rabbits are 

 generally the victims of their inroads and the 

 mortality is usually very high. In order to 

 appreciate the full significance of the coccidia, 

 a working knowledge of the life history is es- 

 sential, and for that reason a short description 

 is given. 



The coccidia belong to the phylum Protozoa, 

 class Sporozoa or telosporidia, order Coccidi- 

 idae. The life cycle is completed by asexual 

 and sexual generations. There are four gen- 

 era, members of which attack mammals, inver- 

 tebrates and fish. The genus which we have 

 to consider here is the Eimeria, members of 

 which chiefly attack vertebrates, man included. 



Life Cycle of the Eimeria Cuniculi 



The adult coccidium is ovoid in form and 

 consists of a chitinous shell which is smooth and 

 fairly thick and which at its narrowest pole 

 shows a small indentation, the micropyle. The 

 micropyle communicates with the granular pro- 

 toplasm within the shell and is the means of 



Z5 



