Neurological diseases of cattle in the state of Goiás, Brazil (2010-2017)

Brain Abscesses in Domestic Ruminants: Clinicopathological and Bacteriological Approaches

Brain abscesses in ruminants often arise from primary infection foci, leading to an unfavorable prognosis for affected animals. This highlights the need for comprehensive studies on brain abscesses across different ruminant species. We retrospectively investigated medical records of epidemiological, clinical, neuroimaging, anatomopathological, and bacteriological findings in six ruminants (three goats, two cows, and one sheep) diagnosed with brain abscesses. All animals studied were female. Apathy (50%), compulsive walking (33%), decreased facial sensitivity (33%), head pressing (33%), seizures (33%), semicomatous mental status (33%), strabismus (33%), unilateral blindness (33%), and circling (33%) represented the most common neurologic signs. Leukocytosis and neutrophilia were the main findings in the hematological evaluation. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis revealed predominant hyperproteinorrachia and pleocytosis. In three cases, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging were used, enabling the identification of typical abscess lesions, which were subsequently confirmed during postmortem examination. Microbiological culture of the abscess samples and/or CSF revealed bacterial coinfections in most cases. Advanced imaging examinations, combined with CSF analysis, can aid in diagnosis, although confirmation typically relies on postmortem evaluation and isolation of the causative agent. This study contributes to clinicopathological aspects, neuroimages, and bacteriological diagnosis of brain abscesses in domestic ruminants.

Cattle diseases in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil: a 24-year survey (1995-2018)

ABSTRACT: We reviewed the records of 5,083 cattle necropsies performed from January 1995 to December 2018 and filed at the Laboratory of Anatomic Pathology (LAP) of the “Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul” (UFMS). These necropsies were performed either by LAP-UFMS faculty (22.33%) or by field veterinary practitioners (77.67%) who subsequently submitted material for histological evaluation at the LAP-UFMS. Conclusive diagnoses were reached in 46.21% of the protocols (2,349 cases), and approximately 65% of the cases were classified as inflammatory or parasitic diseases, with rabies being the most diagnosed disease (20.82% of total conclusive diagnosis). There were a large number of protocols in which the diagnosis was of nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis of unknown cause (NSMUC). Those were the main differentials for rabies and bovine herpesvirus-5 necrotizing meningoencephalitis (NME); that is, the number of rabies cases may be even higher if one considers that many cases of NSMUC might be undiagnosed rabies cases. Toxic and toxic-infectious diseases were the second most prevalent category, and botulism cases represented 41% of this category. The other categories corresponded to less than 20% of the total diagnoses and were distributed in decreasing order of frequency as degenerative diseases (9.79%), diseases caused by physical agents (3.87%), other diseases (2.13%), neoplasms and tumor-like lesions (1.79%), metabolic or nutritional disorders (1.75%) and congenital malformations (0.64%). The large number of inconclusive diagnoses was mainly due to improper conditions of mailed-in material for histopathological evaluation, namely, nonrepresentative samples of all organs, autolysis, and the absence of epidemiological and clinical-pathological information.