Untersuchungen zur Pathomorphologie und Pathogenese der Aujeszkyschen Krankheit

Abstract

The histopathologic changes in the spinal ganglia, spinal roots, and spinal cord in 17 piglets following natural or experimental infection with the virus of pseudorabies were characterized by inflammatory mesenchymal and glial infiltrations and cellular necrosis. The lesions in the connective and vascular tissues were often more pronounced than those in neurons. Nuclear changes resembling inclusion bodies were only occasionally demonstrated. This non-specific histopathologic picture was considered to be the result of an increased resistance against the pseudorabies virus. Although the preponderantly diffuse and multicentric localization of the lesions in natural infections may point to a circulatory spread of the infection to the central nervous system, the continuity of lesions in the cord following intramuscular infection substantiates the possibility of the neuronal route of CNS infection in the pig.