Neurological and epidemiological aspects of a BoHV-5 meningoencephalitis outbreak

Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology

Michele Lunardi²  Marlise Pompeo Claus²  Júlio Augusto Naylor Lisbôa¹  Alexandre Mendes Amude²  Selwyn Arlington Headley¹  Alice Fernandes Alfieri²  Amauri Alcindo Alfieri² 

[1] ,Universidade Estadual de Londrina Laboratório de Virologia Animal Departamento de Medicina Veterinária PreventivaLondrina PR ,Brasil

关键词: cattle;    central nervous system;    bovine herpesvirus 5;    multiplex-PCR;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1516-89132009000700011

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Bovine herpesvirus 5 is a DNA virus that has been associated with meningoencephalitis in young cattle. While its clinical diagnosis is obscured by other major diseases that also produce similar neurological disease in cattle, the use of conventional virological techniques is hampered by the establishment of a lifelong latent infection in the host and the difficulty in differentiating BoHV-1 and BoHV-5. The aim of the current report is to describe the clinical and epidemiological aspects observed in a natural outbreak of BoHV-5 meningoencephalitis in a dairy cattle herd from Brazil. In the outbreak, the affected animals consisted of nine calves, which presented three possible forms of the neurological disease, subjectively classified as peracute, acute, and subacute/chronic. In contrast to conventional herpetic meningoencephalitis, characterized mainly by progressive multifocal brain dysfunctions, BoHV-5 infection resulted in focal non-progressive caudal brainstem dysfunction (pontomedullary syndrome) in an animal presented with subacute/chronic BoHV-5 meningoencephalitis. The evaluation of CNS tissue of affected calves through both histological examination and multiplex-PCR was able to confirm BoHV-5 infection. Additionally, the analysis of CSF samples through PCR allowed ante-mortem BoHV-5 diagnosis during the outbreak, which enabled the implementation of several measures of control for the disease.

【 授权许可】

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