Treponema paraluisleporidarum infects both rabbits (ecovar Cuniculus) and hares (ecovar Lepus). While the occurrence of the bacterium has previously been reported for European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) and domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus f. domestica), there are no data available that report infection in the European context. We tested a total of 1,995 serum samples and 287 genital swabs from opportunistically sampled European brown hares (Lepus europaeus; n = 2135), Mountain hares (Lepus timidus; n = 4), European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus; n = 138), and pet rabbits (O. cuniculus f. domestica; n = 5). The samples originated from eight European countries. In case only serum was available, we tested the samples for the presence of anti-treponemal antibodies. For this, we utilized the Treponema pallidum-particle agglutination test (TP-PA), which is suited for the use in lagomorphs due to the antigenic cross-reactivity of anti-T. pallidum and anti-T. paraluisleporidarum antibodies. In addition, the results of 380 sera were confirmed using the fluorescent-Treponema antibody absorption test (FTA-ABS). In all cases where swab samples were available, DNA was extracted and tested using quantitative PCR to test for the presence of the lagomorph syphilis-bacterium. We were able to detect antibodies in 825 of 1,995 lagomorph sera (41.4%; brown hare: 825/1,868; rabbit: 0/127) and obtained positive qPCR results from 182 of 287 swab samples (63.4%; European brown hare: 167/267; mountain hare: 4/4; rabbit: 11/16). While all rabbit sera (n = 127) tested negative for anti-treponemal antibodies, the presence of the bacterium was confirmed in eight wild (n = 8/11) and three domestic rabbits (n = 3/5) from Germany using qPCR.

Treponema paraluisleporidarum感染兔子 (ecovar Cuniculus) 和野兔 (ecovar Lepus)。虽然细菌发生之前已经报道了欧洲棕色野兔（天兔座europaeus）和家兔（家兔F。家蝇），没有可用的数据报告感染在欧洲范围内。我们总共测试了 1,995 份血清样本和 287 份生殖器拭子，这些样本来自机会性采样的欧洲棕色野兔（Lepus europaeus；n  = 2135）、山野兔（Lepus timidus；n  = 4）、欧洲兔（Oryctolagus cuniculus；n  = 138）宠物兔（O. cuniculus f. 家养; n  = 5）。样本来自八个欧洲国家。如果只有血清可用，我们测试了样品中是否存在抗密螺旋体抗体。为此，我们使用了梅毒螺旋体颗粒凝集试验 (TP-PA)，由于抗梅毒螺旋体和抗副流感螺旋体抗体的抗原交叉反应性，该试验适用于兔形体。此外，380份血清的结果也得到了荧光-Treponema的证实。抗体吸收试验（FTA-ABS）。在所有有拭子样本的情况下，都会提取 DNA 并使用定量 PCR 进行检测，以检测兔形梅毒细菌的存在。我们能够在 1,995 份兔形动物血清中的 825 份（41.4%；棕色野兔：825/1,868；兔：0/127）中检测到抗体，并从 287 个拭子样本中的 182 个（63.4%；欧洲棕色野兔：167/ 267；山兔：4/4；兔子：11/16）。虽然所有的兔血清（Ñ 测试为阴性抗密螺旋体抗体= 127）时，细菌的存在被证实在8个野生（Ñ  = 8/11）和三个家兔（ñ 从德国使用qPCR = 3/5）。