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Year 2013 - Volume 33, Number 4
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Eastern equine encephalitis on Marajó Island, Pará state, Brazil, 33(4):443-448
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ABSTRACT.- Campos K.F., De Oliveira C.H.S., Belo Reis A., Yamasaki E.M., Brito M.F., Andrade S.J.T., Duarte M.D. & Barbosa J.D. 2013. [Eastern equine encephalitis on Marajó Island, Pará state, Brazil.] Surto de encefalomielite equina Leste na Ilha de Marajó, Pará. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 33(4):443-448. Central de Diagnóstico Veterinário, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Castanhal, Rua Maximino Porpino da Silva 1000, Castanhal, PA 68740-080, Brazil. E-mail: diomedes@ufpa.br
Nine cases of equine encephalomyelitis on Marajó Island, state of Pará, Brazil, were studied. The affected horses had difficulty to stand, walked in circles, with marked depression, closed eyelids, tongue paralysis, muscle tremors, bruxism, anorexia and dehydration. Some had their ear and eyelid reflexes diminished, decreased tongue tone and tachycardia; laid down frequently they kept their head on the chest. Often they were seen resting their head on tree trunks or fences. At necropsy, hemorrhages of the meninges and spinal cord, and in some animals also adhesion of the meninges were found. Histologically there was diffuse encephalitis affecting mainly the gray matter, with meningitis and choroiditis. Presence of perivascular cuffs consisting of mononuclear inflammatory cells was observed. From two horses the Eastern equine encephalitis virus was identified by semi-nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (semi-nested RT-PCR). |
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