Congenital Microphthalmic Syndrome in a Swine

Abstract

A 17-week-old crossbred finishing pig was presented for lameness of approximately one week. Clinical evaluation, including ophthalmologic examination, revealed ataxia, partial flaccid paresis of the pelvic limbs, skin lesions at feet and claws, and severely reduced vision/blindness. Both eyes had multiple persistent pupillary membranes (iris-to-iris and iris-to-lens) and hypermature cataracts. Histopathological examination of the eyes revealed microphthalmia, microphakia with cataract formation, myovascularised membrane in the vitreous, retinal detachment, and retinal dysplasia. Microscopic examination of tissues collected postmortem demonstrated nonsuppurative polioencephalomyelitis with the most prominent inflammatory lesions in the lumbar spinal cord. Subsequently, presumed Teschen/Talfan disease was confirmed by porcine teschovirus identification in the spinal cord using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case report describing in detail histopathological changes in the porcine congenital microphthalmic syndrome.

Teschovirus

“…There are not many reports available on respiratory infections caused by PTVs. Recently a congenital microphthalmic syndrome in a pig with typical non-suppurative myelitis in the lumbar spinal cord from the Czech Republic has been reported (Andrysikova et al 2018). Table 6.1 shows the association of some serotypes with specific disease conditions but many serotypes are not related to any clinical signs.…”