Setaria digitata was the main cause of equine neurological ataxia in Korea: 50 cases (2015–2016)

The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

article

Hyunkyoung LEE¹  Hyeshin HWANG²  Younghye RO²  Ji-Hyeon KIM¹  Kyunghyun LEE¹  Eunjin CHOI¹  Youchan BAE¹  Byungjae SO¹  Inhyung LEE² 

[1] Pathologic Diagnostic Laboratory, Animal Disease Diagnostic Division;Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University;Farm Animal Clinical Training and Research Center, Institutes of Green Bio Science & Technology, Seoul National University

关键词: aberrant parasite migration;    acute hindlimb ataxia;    horse;    necropsy;    Setaria digitata;   

DOI  :  10.1292/jvms.20-0741

学科分类：兽医学

来源: Japanese Society of Veterinary Science

【 摘 要 】

This study was performed to examine and clarify the cause of hindlimb ataxia and neuropathy seen in the South Korean horse population. Fifty horses diagnosed with hindlimb ataxia and neuropathy were referred for this study. Neurological examination was performed on 47 horses while necropsy was performed in all 50 animals. The occurrence of neurological diseases increased rapidly in the summer and 47 out of 50 horses were referred after the end of July. The incidence of neurological diseases started from the southern part of Korea in July and proceeded northward in August and September. Although there was no correlation with age, Thoroughbred and Warmblood horses showed a higher incidence rate than Halla and Jeju horses. The incidence rate was 5 times higher in geldings than in mares and stallions. Of the 20 cases, 16 were diagnosed with eosinophilic meningoencephalomyelitis in 2015. The most common lesions observed in 2016 were parasitic meningoencephalomyelitis (10 cases, 33%) and eosinophilic meningomyelitis (7 cases, 23%). Histopathological analysis of the brain and spinal cord revealed nematodes of approximately 100–200 µm in diameter, microcavitation and infiltrates of eosinophils, and brown pigmented macrophage infiltrates. The nematodes were identified as Setaria digitata via DNA sequencing, performed subsequent to polymerase chain reaction using DNA isolated from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections of the spinal cord. These results show that aberrant migration of Setaria digitata larva in the brain and spinal cord was a major cause for neurological signs in horses.

【 授权许可】

Unknown