NR AQBT
AU Hewicker-Trautwein,M.
TI Feline spongiform encephalopathy
OT Die feline spongiforme Enzephalopathie
QU Kleintierpraxis 1994; 39(N12): 855-861
PT Review
AB In 1990, a few years after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) had been diagnosed for the first time, feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), a new disease was diagnosed in cats in the United Kingdom. BSE and FSE belong to the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies which occur both in man and animals. The nature of the group of infectious agents responsible for these chronic-progressive, neurological and invariably fatal diseases is still almost unknown (''unconventional agents''). The agents are extremely resistant to physical and chemical factors, do not cause immunological reactions and, because a reliable test system does not exist, are not detectable intra vitam. The mean age of FSE cats, which came from a wide range of geographical locations throughout the United Kingdom, was six years with a range of two to ten years. Although the majority of cats were male animals, the number of cases is too small to assess the significance of this observation. The major clinical symptoms in FSE cats are behavioural changes (aggression, timidity), locomotor dysfunctions (ataxia, hypermetria), hyperaesthesia, altered grooming, hypersalivation, polydipsia and polyphagia. In the brains of FSE cats characteristic histopathological lesions occur: vacuolation of the grey matter neuropil, vacuoles in the cytoplasm of neurons and neuronal cell processes. In homogenates of FSE brains scrapie prion protein (PrPsc) can be purified which may be demonstrated by negative staining electron microscopy in the form of scrapie-associated fibrils or by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting using PrPsc-specific antibodies. The origin of the FSE agent is not clear. The possibility that FSE may have been derived from the feeding of scrapie or BSE infected material is discussed. FSE affected cats have been fed a variety of food ranging from proprietary cat food (canned diet, dry cat food) and/or table scraps. Detailed epidemiological studies concerning the possible relationship between the occurrence of BSE and FSE are currently limited by the restricted number of cases available for study.
ZR 0
SP deutsch
OR Prion-Krankheiten H