Iatrogenic Compressive Lumbar Myelopathy and Radiculopathy in Adult Cattle following Injection of an Adjuvanted Bacterin into Loin Muscle: Histopathology and Ultrastructure

Abstract

Abstract.Compressive lumbar myelopathy is a recognized iatrogenic complication of injecting water-in-oil vaccines into paravertebral sites of laboratory animals and chickens. Herein, we report the histologic and ultrastructural features of a similar complication in a herd of cattle. Iatrogenic posterior paresis developed over 34 days in 56 of 610 cows (9.2%) following injection of a commercial bacterin 11-34 days earlier into M. longissimus lumborum. The bacterin was composed of inactivated Escherichia coli and Campylobacter fetus ssp. venerealis in a proprietary adjuvant. Tissues were collected for histopathology from 9 affected cattle that died or were euthanized after clinical signs lasting 6-38 days. A range of tissues, including the injection site lesion and lumbar spinal nerve roots, was obtained for ultrastructural examination from a cow with paresis of 31 days duration. There was locally extensive pyogranulomatous myositis with fibrosis and necrosis in right M. longissimus lumborum. Extension of the lesion into the vertebral canal via spinal nerve foramina resulted in focal pyogranulomatous inflammation in epidural fat and in adjacent dura mater. There was axonal degeneration in dorsal, lateral, and ventral columns and chromatolysis of spinal motor neurons in lumbar spinal cord, secondary to compression. A distinctive histologic and ultrastructural feature of pyogranulomata was the presence of osmiophilic material at the center of inflammatory foci, surrounded by macrophages and giant cells that contained intracytoplasmic lipid droplets. Ultrastructural examination of entrapped spinal nerves revealed axonal degeneration and loss of myelinated and unmyelinated fibers, segmental demyelination with remyelination, axonal spheroid formation, and early axonal regeneration. Two cattle also had bilaterally symmetrical acute myodegeneration with sarcoplasmic mineralization and secondary histiocytic myositis in axial and appendicular muscles, probably due to prolonged recumbency and vascular compromise (downer cow myopathy). Paresis probably developed as the result of the combination of a paravertebral injection site and the florid granulomatous response elicited by a constituent in the vaccine, most likely the water-in-oil adjuvant.

Estimativas de perdas econômicas causadas por reação granulomatosa local após uso de vacina oleosa contra febre aftosa em bovinos de Mato Grosso do Sul

“…O diagnóstico de reação vacinal baseou-se nas caracterís-ticas macroscópicas e histológicas das lesões, que eram similares àquelas descritas em bovinos em relatos anteriores (O'Toole et al 1995, Ubiali et al 2011, Marques et al 2012. Além das características histopatológicas, a possibilidade de contaminação bacteriana foi descartada pelos resultados negativos das culturas microbiológicas realizadas.…”

“…Dentre as medidas propostas nestes programas, a vacinação sistemática preventiva, seguindo o calendário definido pelo Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA), torna o uso de vacinas um manejo rotineiro nas propriedades. No entanto, a utilização destas pode acarretar reações adversas incluindo reações anafiláticas, infecções iatrogênicas, granulomas pós-vacinais, danos teciduais ocasionados por endotoxinas, reação inflamatória aguda e polirradiculoneuropatia desmielinizante (O'Toole et al 1995), e em consequência a essas reações há significativas perdas econômicas (França Filho et al 2006).…”

Hepatic Failure and Hemochromatosis of Salers and Salers-cross Cattle

“…2, 6), processed, and embedded in epoxy resin. 58 Samples from calf No. 6 were collected by transcutaneous biopsy when she was 150 days old, and samples from calf Nos.…”

Spinal cord compression in cattle after the use of an oily vaccine

“…The compressive lumbar myelopathy in animals is a recognized iatrogenic complication from injecting water-in-oil vaccines into paravertebral sites (Kleinman et al 1993, O'Toole et al 1995. This paper describes the clinical and pathological features of spinal cord compression in cattle produced by vaccine-associated granulomas.…”