Myxomatosis in particular causes a slow and painful death. The myxoma virus was introduced in 1950. The virus is spread by mosquitoes and European fleas as they bite rabbits. However, these insects can't survive in very dry conditions, so myxomatosis was not spread to arid central Australia. In 1992 the Spanish flea was introduced to spread the disease to the dry areas.
Myxomatosis is a very cruel disease.
It often produces an ugly bump on the site that looks like, but isn't, a tumour. By the second day, the virus has spread into the rabbit's lymph glands and by the fourth is located throughout the body tissues. By day five, the rabbit's eyes have begun to swell, as have other sensitive areas such as its genitals and anus. Over the next three days, the infection becomes widespread and the tumour-like bumps appear over several places of the body. A rabbit infected with the most virulent strain of myxomatosis is usually dead by the tenth day.