Nervous form of listeriosis in cattle

Abstract

Listeriosis is an infectious disease of bacterial origin, widely distributed in the world, which mainly affects small ruminants. The clinical and pathological aspects of listeriosis in cattle in the Sertão of Paraíba are described. From 2003 to 2023, the Animal Pathology Laboratory of the Federal University of Campina Grande performed 1,272 necropsies of cattle, of which 159 (12.50%) were diagnosed with diseases that affected the central nervous system (CNS) and of these, two cases were attributed to listeriosis (1.25%), being crossbreds, one female (Bovine 1) and one male (Bovine 2), aged 5 years and 18 months respectively. Bovine 1 came from the municipality of Patos, while Bovine 2 was from the municipality of Piancó, both located in the Sertão da Paraíba, raised in a semi-extensive regime. Both animals showed nervous symptoms, Bovine 1 initially receiving the presumptive diagnosis of rabies. Macroscopically, no lesions were observed in the CNS. Microscopically, in Bovine 1, microabscesses were observed characterized by moderate multifocal to coalescent areas of neutrophilic infiltrate without capsular involvement, moderate mononuclear infiltrate with rare neutrophils around vessels (cuffs) and a discrete amount of axonal spheroids in the medulla oblongata region, in addition to discrete lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate in the meninges of the occipital cortex and cerebellum. The microscopic lesions observed in Bovine 2 were similar, varying in intensity and location. The diagnosis was based on epidemiological, clinical and histopathological findings. The nervous form of listeriosis occurs rarely in cattle in the hinterland of Paraíba, and may present nonspecific clinical alterations and be confused with other pathologies of the CNS of cattle.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.023-018