In the present study, the use of dogs with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) as a disease model for necrotizing encephalitis (NE) was assessed. Twelve healthy dogs were included in this study. Canine forebrain tissues (8 g), including white and grey matter, were homogenized with 4 mL of phosphate-buffered saline for 5 min in an ice bath. The suspension was emulsified with the same volume of Freund's complete adjuvant containing 1 mg/mL of killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra. Under sedation, each dog was injected subcutaneously with canine brain homogenate at four sites: two in the inguinal and two in the axillary regions. A second injection (booster) was administered to all the dogs using the same procedure 7 days after the first injection. Clinical assessment, magnetic resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analyses, necropsies, and histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations were performed for the dogs with EAE. Out of the 12 animals, seven (58%) developed clinically manifest EAE at various times after immunization. Characteristics of canine EAE models were very similar to canine NE, suggesting that canine EAE can be a disease model for NE in dogs.
Animals ; Brain/*pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Dog Diseases/*immunology ; Dogs ; Encephalitis/immunology/*veterinary ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental/immunology/*veterinary ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique/veterinary ; Immunization/veterinary ; Immunohistochemistry/veterinary ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/veterinary ; Male ; Necrosis/immunology/*veterinary

The Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is one of causative agents of reproductive failure in pregnant sows. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA) was examined for its potential use in the rapid monitoring of the JEV, and the results were compared with those from the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and serum neutralization (SN) tests. The comparative analysis showed that the results of I-ELISA showed a significant correlation with the conventional HI (r = 0.867) and SN tests (r = 0.804), respectively. When the I-ELISA results were compared with the traditional diagnostic assays, the sensitivity of the I-ELISA was 94.3% with the HI test and 93.7% with the SN test, respectively. The specificity was found to be 81.4% and 80.0% with the HI and SN tests, respectively. To determine the applicability of I-ELISA in the field, the serum samples from 720 pigs were collected from 4 regions in Korea between July and August 2004. The results indicated that 21.7% of screened pigs were seropositive for the JEV. The seropositive rates of JEV in the 4 provinces were 12.6% in Gyeonggi, 45.0% in Gyeongnam, 16.7% in Jeonbuk, and 12.2% in Jeju. The I-ELISA methodology developed in this study was shown to have considerable sensitivity and specificity through a comparison with HI and the SN tests. Therefore, it might be one of convenient methods for screening a large number of samples in various fields.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral/blood ; Antigens, Viral/immunology ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese/immunology/*isolation&purification ; Encephalitis, Japanese/blood/immunology/*veterinary/virology ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods/*veterinary ; Female ; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests/veterinary ; Korea ; Neutralization Tests/veterinary ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/blood/immunology/*virology

Vector-borne arboviruses produce mild to severe symptoms in domestic animals. Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), Akabane, Aino, and Chuzan virus have been primarily attributed to reproductive disorders or febrile diseases in cattle, and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is mainly associated with reproductive failures in swine. We investigated antibody titers from domestic swine against four bovine arboviruses (BEF, Akabane, Aino, and Chuzan virus) and from cattle against JEV in Korea. While the positive rates for Akabane and BEF were 37.4% and 15.7%, the positive incidence of Chuzan and Aino were relatively low, with positive rates of 3.04% and 0.4%, respectively, based on a virus neutralization assay. Antibody titers against more than one virus were also frequently detected in domestic swine. The incidence of JEV was 51.3% among domestic cattle. In addition, one positive case was detected in the thoracic fluids from 35 aborted calves, based on the hemagglutination inhibition test. Our results indicate that swine are susceptible hosts of bovine arboviruses without showing clinical symptoms in a natural environment. Moreover, we confirmed that JEV could be associated with reproductive failure in pregnant cattle, as were other vector-borne bovine arboviruses assessed in this study.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral/blood ; Cattle ; Cattle Diseases/*epidemiology/*virology ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese/*immunology ; Encephalitis, Japanese/blood/epidemiology/*veterinary/virology ; Ephemeral Fever/blood/*epidemiology/virology ; Ephemeral Fever Virus, Bovine/*immunology ; Hemagglutination Tests ; Incidence ; Korea/epidemiology ; Neutralization Tests ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/*epidemiology/*virology