title: [Clinical findings and diagnostic procedure in a dairy sheep with visna].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Departement für Innere Veterinärmedizin, Universität Zürich.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Camenzind
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meli
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Böni
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ossent
mesh_terms: 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