RESUMO.-Visando-se determinar as características e frequência das doenças na população suína na região de abrangência do Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária (LPV) da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo de todos os diagnósticos de necropsias realizadas nesta espécie no período de 1964 a 2011. Foram separados 564 casos com diagnósticos conclusivos. A criação suína na região de abrangência do estudo é predominantemente familiar e as doenças diagnosticadas, refletem esta realidade. As doenças infecciosas e parasitá-rias foram as mais prevalentes [380(68,1%) was carried out in order to determine the characteristics and frequency of diseases in the swine population raised in the region the region covered by the activities of LPV. Five hundred and four cases with conclusive diagnosis were found. The type of pig-raising in the area is mainly a familiar enterprise and the diseases found in this survey reflect this reality Infectious and parasitic diseases were the most prevalent [380(68.1%)], followed, in descending order of frequency, by nutritional and metabolic diseases [64(11.5%)], poisonings and toxi-infections and development disorders [15(2.7%)]. Other disorders due to varying etiologies, especially trauma, were cause of death in just over 11% of the cases. Bacterial diseases were responsible for more than half of the causes of death in pigs of the studied population, pointing to the influence of management, environmental and nutritional regional husbandry. The moist frequent disease diagnosed in pigs in the region in the region covered by the study was edema disease which along with other forms of infection by Escherichia coli was responsible for 23% of deaths. Viral diseases and neoplasm were not major causes of death in pigs in the region studied. Nutritional hepatosis and aflatoxicosis are important diseases in pigs in this region and and there causation are mainly linked to nutritional management.INDEX TERMS: Swine diseases, veterinary pathology, epidemiology, causes of death, retrospective study.

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Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) belongs to the Pestivirus genus, which is further divided into subgenotypes (1a-1u and 2a-c). When persistent infection occurs, the calf will be immunotolerant to BVDV and possibly develop mucosal disease. This study describes an outbreak of BVDV-1d-induced mucosal disease lacking intestinal lesions. Eleven calves presented with anorexia, sialorrhea, lameness, recumbency, and death. Three calves were necropsied, showing ulceration of the interdigital skin and the oral and nasal mucosa; linear ulcers in the tongue, esophagus, and rumen; and rounded ulcers in the abomasum. Microscopically, mucosa and skin had superficial necrosis, with single-cell necrosis and vacuolation in epithelial cells, and severe parakeratosis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) showed BVDV antigen in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells in skin and mucosa. All 11 dead calves were positive upon reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the detection of Pestivirus along with another 11 live calves from the herd, which were positive again by RT-PCR and IHC after a 4-week interval. Sequencing of the 5' untranslated region and N-terminal protease showed that viruses from these 22 calves were homologous and of subgenotype BVDV-1d. Cytopathic BVDV was isolated from 8 of 11 dead calves, but only noncytopathic BVDV was isolated from the 11 live animals. The findings indicate that this was an outbreak of mucosal disease caused by BVDV-1d, with high morbidity, and lesions restricted to the upper alimentary system and skin and absent from intestine. Thus, the epidemiological and pathological features in this form of mucosal disease may be similar to vesicular diseases, including foot and mouth disease.

The infection by S. falcatula is commonly associated with respiratory disease in captive psittacine birds, with a few case reports of this protozoan causing encephalitis in wild birds. We describe the clinical, pathological, and molecular aspects of an infection by S. falcatula in a bare-faced ibis (Phimosus infuscatus). Clinically, wing paralysis and mild motor incoordination were observed. At necropsy, the telencephalic cortex showed multifocal to coalescing yellowish soft areas. Histologically, multifocal to coalescent nonsuppurative necrotizing meningoencephalitis of telencephalic cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem was observed. Necrotic areas showed multiple protozoan organism characteristics of Sarcocystis sp. schizonts in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells or lying free in the neuropil. Partial genetic sequences of the gene encoding cytochrome b (CYTB), the gene encoding the beta subunit of RNA polymerase (RPOB) and the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1) from Sarcocystis sp. schizonts revealed that the parasite had ITS-1 sequences that were 100% identical to the homologous alleles from Sarcocystis sp. shed by Didelphis albiventris in Brazil. RPOB and CYTB sequences were 100% identical to homologous of S. falcatula available in Genbank. Thus, this is the first report of necrotizing meningoencephalitis caused by S. falcatula in bare-faced ibis (P. infuscatus).

Twenty-six cattle and 7 horses were diagnosed with rabies. Samples of brain and spinal cord were processed for hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry (IHC). In addition, refrigerated fragments of brain and spinal cord were tested by direct fluorescent antibody test and intracerebral inoculation in mice. Statistical analyses and Fisher exact test were performed by commercial software. Histologic lesions were observed in the spinal cord in all of the cattle and horses. Inflammatory lesions in horses were moderate at the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral levels, and marked at the lumbar enlargement level. Gitter cells were present in large numbers in the lumbar enlargement region. IHC staining intensity ranged from moderate to strong. Inflammatory lesions in cattle were moderate in all spinal cord sections, and gitter cells were present in small numbers. IHC staining intensity was strong in all spinal cord sections. Only 2 horses exhibited lesions in the brain, which were located mainly in the obex and cerebellum; different from that observed in cattle, which had lesions in 25 cases. Fisher exact test showed that the odds of detecting lesions caused by rabies in horses are 3.5 times higher when spinal cord sections are analyzed, as compared to analysis of brain samples alone.

RESUMO.-[Doenças infecciosas supurativas do sistema nervoso central de ruminantes domésticos.]Neste trabalho são descritas as doenças neurológicas infecciosas supurativas de ruminantes domésticos na Região Sul do Brasil. Foram avaliados laudos de 3.274 bovinos, 596 ovinos e 391 caprinos, dos quais 219 bovinos, 21 ovinos e sete caprinos foram diagnosticados como doenças inflamatórias no sistema nervoso central. As doenças neurológicas infecciosas supurativas corresponderam a 54 casos (28 bovinos, 19 ovinos e sete caprinos). As enfermidades observadas foram meningoencefalite por Listeria monocytogenes (oito ovinos, cinco caprinos e quatro bovinos), leptomeningite e meningoencefalite supurativa (14 bovinos, dois caprinos e um ovino), abscessos cerebrais (seis bovinos e dois ovinos) e medulares (sete ovinos); e empiema basilar (quatro bovinos e um ovino This study describes suppurative infectious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) in domestic ruminants of southern Brazil. Reports from 3.274 cattle, 596 sheep and 391 goats were reviewed, of which 219 cattle, 21 sheep and 7 goats were diagnosed with central nervous system inflammatory diseases. Suppurative infectious diseases of the CNS corresponded to 54 cases (28 cattle, 19 sheep and 7 goats). The conditions observed consisted of listerial meningoencephalitis (8 sheep, 5 goats and 4 cattle), suppurative leptomeningitis and meningoencephalitis (14 cattle, 2 goats and 1 sheep), cerebral (6 cattle and 2 sheep), and spinal cord (7 sheep) abscesses, and basilar empyema (4 cattle and 1 sheep). Bacterial culture identified Listeria monocytogenes (9/54 cases), Escherichia coli (7/54 cases), Trueperella pyogenes (6/54 cases) and Proteus mirabilis (1/54 cases). All cases diagnosed as listeriosis through histopathology yielded positive immunostaining on immunohistochemistry, while 12/17 of the cases of suppurative leptomeningitis and meningoencephalitis presented positive immunostaining for Escherichia coli. Meningoencephalitis by L. monocytogenes was the main neurological disease in sheep and goats, followed by spinal cord abscesses in sheep. In cattle, leptomeningitis and suppurative meningoencephalitis was the most frequent neurological disease for the species, and E. coli was the main cause of these lesions. Basilar empyema, mainly diagnosed in cattle, is related to traumatic injuries, mainly in the nasal cavity, and the main etiologic agent was T. pyogenes.

T. micrantha poisoning in horses causes predominantly a neurological disease, with minimal to absent hepatic lesions.

Tuberculosis in cattle is a chronic infectious-contagious disease characterized by the development of nodular lesions (granulomas) in mainly the lungs and regional lymph nodes. It is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, an acid-fast bacillus (AFB). Tuberculosis in the central nervous system is a rare condition in cattle. Herein, we describe the clinical and pathological findings of six neurotuberculosis cases in cattle diagnosed in Southern Brazil. The average age of the cattle affected was 12 months, and they varied in breed and sex. The clinical history ranged from 5 to 30 days and was characterized by motor incoordination, opisthotonus, blindness, and progression to recumbency. The cattle were euthanized, and grossly, the leptomeninges at the basilar brain showed marked and diffuse expansion, with nodular yellowish lesions ranging in size. On microscopic examination, there were multifocal granulomas located mainly in the meninges, though sometimes extending to adjacent neuropil or existing as isolated granulomas in neuropil. AFBs were observed in the cytoplasm of epithelioid macrophages and multinucleated giant cells through Ziehl-Neelsen histochemical staining and identified as Mycobacterium sp. through immunohistochemistry.