Airborne Endotoxins and Airborne Gram-negative Bacteria in Chinese Rabbit Houses

Global rabbit production is currently estimated at more than 1 million tones per year, according to the FAO. The world’s largest producer is China with 315.000 tones in 2000 (FAO, 2001). One major problem in rabbit meat production is infectious diseases of the respiratory tract. Usually respiratory infections are due to an association of non-specific contributing causes with infectious agents. Important non-specific contributing factors are the concentration of toxic gases, especially ammonia, and the dust concentration. Further the concentration of airborne endotoxins seems to play an important role in the development of respiratory diseases. Chronic exposure to airborne endotoxins can compromise several defense mechanisms of the host (Deeb and DiGiacomo, 2000; Halloy et al., 2005). In this study airborne endotoxin concentrations, the number of total airborne aerobic bacteria and the number of airborne gram-negative bacteria were measured in 3 rabbit houses. Further the species composition of the isolated airborne gram-negative bacteria was studied.