Detection of Akabane viral antigens in spontaneous lymphohistiocytic encephalomyelitis in cattle.

A 5-month-old Japanese black bull calf and twenty-seven 1-27-day-old calves exhibiting neurological signs between August and October 1998 were examined. The bull calf exhibited rapid breathing, fever, hypersensitivity, and ataxia and was euthanized 4 days after the onset of symptoms. The 27 calves primarily exhibited ataxia, and 15 had arthrogryposis. Histological examination of the bull calf revealed perivascular infiltraction by mononuclear cells, diffuse to multifocal gliosis, and neuronal necrosis in the brain and spinal cord. Multiple malacic foci were found in the midbrain in 5 cases. In contrast, in the 15 calves necropsied in October, there were fewer inflammatory changes, but there was neuronal cell loss in the ventral horn and a decrease in myelinated axons in the lateral and ventral funiculi. Immunohistochemical examination using a rabbit antiserum against Akabane virus strain OBE-1 revealed a large amount of viral antigen in the degenerating neurons and glial cells of the bull calf, mainly in the spinal gray matter. Small amounts of viral antigen in swollen axons and a few glial cells were found in 5 of 27 calves. Thirteen of the 27 calves had high neutralization antibody titers against the Akabane virus, whereas there was no significant antibody titer in most of the calves necropsied during August. The present study revealed that viral antigen detection was very useful for the diagnosis of Akabane diseases in the 5-month-old bull calf that was suspected to be infected postnatally, while it had limited usefulness in the other young calves.