Brain lesions in pigs affected with postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome.
Anti-porcine circovirus type 2 (anti-PCV2) immunostaining was associated with cerebellar lymphohistiocytic vasculitis combined with hemorrhages (50 pigs) or with lymphohistiocytic meningitis (23 pigs) in pigs naturally affected with postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). The animals originated from 12 farms in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In total, 456 unthrifty 3- to 5-month-old postweaning pigs confirmed as PMWS cases were necropsied. Although most findings mimicked those extensively reported in PMWS-affected pigs, there were distinctive brain lesions that included multiple hemorrhages in the cerebellar leptomeninges associated with lymphohistiocytic vasculitis and fibrinoid degeneration in vessels of the cerebellum and periventricular areas (69 pigs). These vascular lesions were also seen in conjunction with lymphohistiocytic meningitis (38 additional pigs). PCV2 antigen was immunohistochemically demonstrated in the cytoplasm and nuclei from intralesional perivascular macrophages and endothelial-like cells in brain tissues. Together these findings suggest that these lesions were caused by PCV2.
Corrêa
André Mendes Ribeiro
AM
Departamento de Patologia Clínica Veterinária, Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves, no. 9090, 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Zlotowski
Priscila
P
de Barcellos
David Emilio Santos Neves
DE
da Cruz
Cláudio Estêvão Farias
CE
Driemeier
David
D
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D053570:Porcine Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome / Q000473:pathology*; D013552:Swine