A deadly virus spreads in America, leaving its animal victims to bleed to death en masse

Hemorrhagic disease has been reported to be spreading like wildfire among rabbit populations in America.

Rabbits in many US states, both wild and domestic, suffer from a highly contagious virus that causes rabbit haemorrhage disease - a condition that kills 80% to 100% of all infected animals.

With an incubation period of three to nine days, the disease manifests itself in a range of symptoms, the most common of which include lethargy, fever, weight loss, and bleeding from the nose or eyes.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the virus, known as RHDV2, does not infect humans.

The pathogen was first discovered in the United States last year, and has since spread to about 17 states, and New York and Florida were the last to identify the deadly disease.

In New York, the National Agriculture and Markets Administration (NASDA) advised rabbit owners to contact veterinarians about vaccination.

It also launched a vaccination campaign in Florida, where authorities said they had given the green light to "use an experimentally approved Medgene vaccine targeting the US RHDV-2 strain."

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