Clinical syndromes of nervous distemper in dogs initially presented without conventional evidences of CDV infection

Resumo

Despite large vaccination practice, canine distemper virus (CDV) is yet an important infectious agent that leads to nervous disease in canine populations worldwide. Unfortunately, the clinical diagnosis of distemper encephalomyelitis is often difficult in cases presented without conventional evidences of CDV infection such as systemic signs and myoclonus. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the neurological deficits and the clinical syndromes of nervous distemper in dogs suffering from neurological disease admitted in the absence of the conventional evidences of CDV infection. Dogs presented with central nervous disease in which toxic/traumatic or a CDV-free etiology could be excluded ante mortem were prospectively followed up and which that died (natural death or euthanasia, despite medical treatment) and necropsy was carried out were included in this study. Ten out of 35 evaluated dogs were post mortem diagnosed with CDV encephalomyelitis by both CDV RNA detection through RT-PCR assay in nervous tissue and observation of distemper-compatible neuroparenchymal lesions. According to the nervous signs, clinical history, and the age of presentation, the distemper dogs were grouped in three clinical syndromes of CDV encephalomyelitis: i) canine distemper encephalitis in immature dogs (CDEID) (n=3); ii) multifocal distemper encephalomyelitis in mature dogs (MDEMD) (n=6); and iii) old dog encephalitis (ODE)-like syndrome (n=1). The respective nervous deficits expected from each one of the syndromes herein presented were discussed.