National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH)

Topics in Animal Health Research 2002

22. Histopathological criteria for the diagnosis of caprine arthritis/encephalitis

Japanese

Caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE) is a progressive fatal disease of goats which is caused by the CAE virus.  The disease has been reported in most countries where goats are raised, except for our nation, however, we first detected the disease in 2002.  This report describes the histopathological characteristics of the cases in Japan. In August 2002, two shibayagi ewes with carpal swelling were autopsied and diagnosed as CAE by histopathological and serological examinations.  By the end of 2002, 15 goats were submitted for histopathological examinations.  Most of them had nonsuppurative arthritis, peri-arthiritis and mastitis, and some of them had interstitial pneumonia with intense infiltration of lymphocytes and nonsuppurative interstitial nephritis.  Distribution of arithritis/ peri-arthilitis was examined using 3 ewes.  As a result, the lesions were most frequently seen in the carpal joints, followed by shoulder, elbow, hip and knee joints. These results suggested that most pathognomonic lesions of CAE are progressive non-suppurative arthritis/peri-arthritis, mastitis and interstitial pneumonia with sever lymphoid infiltration. (Infectious Disease Pathology Section, Department of Infectious Diseases TEL +81-29-838-7837)

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