[Clinical findings and diagnostic procedure in a dairy sheep with visna].
The goal of this report was to describe the clinical signs and diagnosis of Visna in a seven-year-old East Friesian milk sheep. A striking feature was that the ewe's behaviour changed frequently. At one time, the ewe was somnolent. A few minutes later, the sheep was alert and eating hay. The ewe was thin. It had a slight head tilt and a severe generalised ataxia. Based on the neurological symptoms and chronic weight loss, a tentative diagnosis of visna was made. Serological testing for maedi-visna was positive, and the ewe was euthanised. A postmortem examination was performed, and lung and brain samples were collected aseptically. Cell cultures from these organs were positive for viral enzymatic reverse transcriptase and for maedi-visna RNA.
Braun
U
U
Departement für Innere Veterinärmedizin, Universität Zürich.
Camenzind
D
D
Meli
M
M
Böni
J
J
Ossent
P
P
D000818:Animals; D001259:Ataxia / Q000662:veterinary; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D008168:Lung / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012756:Sheep; D016182:Visna / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014790:Visna-maedi virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015431:Weight Loss