Page 152 - TBE_Book_V2_2019

Chapter 8: TBE in animals

Figure 4 Figure 5

A comatose dog in lateral recumbency with severe A case of canine TBE with hemiparesis and
brain stem encephalitis leading to anisocoria and
spontaneous dorsal paw placement.
left-sided strabismus.

Brainstem symptoms like arhythmical breath- There is no significant breed, gender, or age
ing pattern may be present in comatose dogs, predisposition, although most cases are
especially in severe cases with guarded described in adult middle- to large-breed
prognosis (see Video—https://id-ea.org/tbe/wp- dogs. Rottweilers and Huskies are over-
content/uploads/2017/08/VIDEO_TBE_breathing- represented in the literature 14,20,21 (Table 2).
dog.mp4).
Laboratory findings and diagnosis
Video: Comatose dog of Figure 4 with
arhythmical breathing indicative A definite diagnosis in dogs with TBE is rarely
of brain stem lesion achieved intra vitam as it has been supposed
very unlikely to detect the virus in the blood
or in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In 1 study
from the Czech Republic, 12.6% of canine
blood samples tested positive for TBEV by
nested RT-polymerase chain reaction (PCR),
although only one-third of these dogs suffered
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from neurological symptoms.

Whether the other dogs were in an asymp-
tomatic carrier status, or just happened to be
tested during their incubation period, as
reported in humans, remained unclear. Virus
detection in the CSF has been achieved only in
Major involvement of the spinal cord results in isolated cases within the first 3 days of
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mostly symmetrical paresis, muscle twitching, disease. Immunological rapid virus clearance
and proprioceptive dysfunction (38-50%), in the dog’s brain and CSF seems to be very
which may also be present as an exclusive fast, and completed before most diagnostic
symptom and may occur asymmetrically procedures are performed. The inability of the
(Figure 5). 10,17,19,20 central nervous system’s (CNS) local immune

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