2.1 Case presentation
In July 2020, a small rabbit farm (Aljustrel, South Portugal) of one adult male (two years old), two adult males (one year old), one adult female (one year old) and two juveniles (5 months old) European rabbits, developed signs compatible with myxomatosis. The six rabbits presented clinical signs of disease on the same day.
The adult male (two years old) showed slight signs of illness, with very slight swelling of the eyelid and slight serous discharge, recovering from disease in around one week. After the disappearing of the clinical signals, a blood sample was collected from this rabbit by jugular venepuncture (Abade dos Santos et al., 2019) to evaluate the serological response to MYXV infection using the CIVTEST Cuni Myxomatosis Kit (Hipra) according with manufacturer indications. The other five animals died 24-48 hours after the symptoms onset, which included oedema of the eyelids (Fig.1), base of the ears and genitals, dyspnoea and anorexia. Small myxomas at the base of the ear were present in one of the rabbits (Fig. 2).