Culture-Based Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Bacterial Isolates Recovered from Rabbits with Clinical Signs Compatible with Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy in Hidalgo, Mexico

Epizootic rabbit enteropathy (ERE) is a gastrointestinal disorder affecting rabbits during the post-weaning period. This study aimed to describe cultivable bacterial isolates recovered from the cecal contents of 31 rabbits in Hidalgo, Mexico, with clinical signs compatible with ERE. We examined cultured isolates using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). We determined minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of selected antimicrobials for a subset of isolates. We recovered a total of 126 bacterial isolates. The most frequently identified isolates were Escherichia coli (80.16%), Enterococcus faecalis (5.56%), and Morganella morganii (4.76%); these percentages reflect the proportion of recovered cultured isolates, not the proportion of affected rabbits. Incomplete identification records and scores below the species-level threshold limited confirmation of some taxonomic assignments. MICs varied among the tested isolates and were interpreted descriptively; differences in MIC values between antimicrobials were not considered evidence of comparative clinical efficacy. These culture-dependent findings describe the sampled isolate collection and do not represent the composition or diversity of the complete cecal microbiota. Without comparison groups, they do not establish bacterial enrichment, disease specificity, or an association with ERE, but they suggest an initial approach to identify potential causative agents of the disease.