Suppurative infectious diseases of the central nervous system in domestic ruminants

Abstract

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.

Causes of death in sheep in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: analysis of 523 cases (2004-2019)

“…Listeriosis is caused by a bacterium named Listeria monocytogenes and it has been described as an important cause of meningoencephalitis in small ruminants (Konradt et al 2017). This condition is clinically characterized by head tilt, walk in circles, blindness and fever.…”

“…This condition is clinically characterized by head tilt, walk in circles, blindness and fever. Histologically, the main feature is the presence of microabscesses in the brainstem, with presence of non-suppurative meningoencephalitis (Rissi et al 2010c, Konradt et al 2017. The location of the lesions in brainstem is closely related to the bacteria invading the oral mucosa, and by extension invading the trigeminal nerves, therefore, traveling centripetally via axons to the brain (Cantile & Youssef 2016).…”

Nervous form of listeriosis in buffaloes

“…Tissue sections of the pons of the three cases were embedded in paraffin and sent to the Department of Veterinary Pathology of the "Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul" (UFRGS) for immunohistochemistry (IHC) for L. monocytogenes. IHC staining was performed according to the protocol described by Konradt et al (2017), using a primary monoclonal antibody to L. monocytogenes (BD  , New Jersey) in a 1:200 dilution, in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Antigen retrieval was obtained with citrate buffer (pH 6.0) for 10 min in microwave at maximum power, and background reactions were blocked using a 5% skim milk solution.…”

“…In Brazil, the encephalitic form of listeriosis in ruminants has already been described in cattle (Sanches et al 2000, Konradt et al 2017, goats (Rissi et al 2006, Guedes et al 2007, Konradt et al 2017, and sheep (Mendes et al 2005, Ribeiro et al 2006, Guedes et al 2007, Rissi et al 2010, Konradt et al 2017, but this form of the disease has not been reported in buffaloes to date. Therefore, this study aimed to describe an outbreak of listeric meningoencephalitis in buffaloes.…”

Fatal systemic Mortierella wolfii infection in a neonatal calf in southern Brazil

“…Because of the presence of neurological clinical signs and hypopyon; bacterial septicemia is the main differential diagnosis of this case. This has mostly been observed in neonatal calves that did not receive adequate colostrum, and this condition is predominantly associated with Escherichia coli infection (KONRADT et al, 2017). Infectious thrombotic meningoencephalitis caused by Histophilus somni is characterized by similar gross lesions in the brain, but the diagnosis can be made by distinct histological lesions and bacterial culture (MOMOTANI et al, 1985;CURTIS et al, 2017).…”