Diagnostic findings in pigs with porcine malignant catarrhal fever [German]

摘要

For the first time Ovine Herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) was identified in Swiss pigs as the causative agent of Porcine Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF). Diseased animals from two farms were observed to show weakness, anorexia, fever up to 41 degreesC, and neurological symptoms, i.e. ataxia, convulsions and hyperesthesia, erosion on the snout and in the oral and nasal mucosa, as well as multiple skin lesions. Histopathological findings included severe non-purulent inflammation with mononuclear cell infiltration in several organs. Most dominant were meningo-encephalitis, disseminated nephritis as well as purulent catarrhalic bronchopneumonia. The findings were quite reminiscent of the lesions due to MCF in cattle and give therefore substantial proof to use Porcine Malignant Catarrhal Fever as the term for the disease. Identification of the causative agent was done with a quantitative PCR specific for OvHV-2. Different tissues from diseased animals were positive. Furthermore, one animal which had been ill for more than five days tested positive for antibodies against an epitope conserved among MCF viruses.