Astrovirus-Associated Polioencephalomyelitis in an Alpaca

An 8-year-old alpaca was admitted to the emergency service of the Clinic for Ruminants in Bern due to a reduced general condition and progressive neurological signs. Despite supportive treatment, its condition deteriorated and the animal had to be euthanized. Histopathological analysis revealed a se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses 2020-12, Vol.13 (1), p.50
Main Authors: Küchler, Leonore, Rüfli, Isabelle, Koch, Michel C, Hierweger, Melanie M, Kauer, Ronja V, Boujon, Céline L, Hilbe, Monika, Oevermann, Anna, Zanolari, Patrik, Seuberlich, Torsten, Gurtner, Corinne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alpaca
Animals
Astroviridae - genetics
Astroviridae Infections - veterinary
astrovirus
Biopsy
Blood
Brain - pathology
Brain - virology
Case Report
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - diagnosis
Cattle Diseases - virology
Encephalitis
Epitopes
Genomes
Hybridization
Immunohistochemistry
In Situ Hybridization
Labeling
Next-generation sequencing
Polioencephalomyelitis
Poliomyelitis - veterinary
Polyclonal antibodies
Polymerase chain reaction
Proteins
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
real-time RT-PCR
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
RNA, Viral
Spinal cord
Uterus
Viruses
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Summary:An 8-year-old alpaca was admitted to the emergency service of the Clinic for Ruminants in Bern due to a reduced general condition and progressive neurological signs. Despite supportive treatment, its condition deteriorated and the animal had to be euthanized. Histopathological analysis revealed a severe non-suppurative polioencephalomyelitis with neuronal necrosis, most likely of viral origin. We detected abundant neuronal labelling with antibodies directed against two different epitopes of Bovine Astrovirus CH13/NeuroS1 (BoAstV-CH13/NeuroS1), which is a common viral agent associated with non-suppurative encephalitis in Swiss cattle. These findings were further verified by detection of viral RNA by use of in-situ hybridization and real-time RT-PCR. Next generation sequencing revealed that the detected virus genome had a pairwise identity of 98.9% to the genome of BoAstV-CH13/NeuroS1. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an astrovirus-associated polioencephalomyelitis in an alpaca. These results point to the possibility of an interspecies transmission of BoAstV-CH13/NeuroS1.
ISSN:1999-4915
1999-4915
DOI:10.3390/v13010050