1987 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 645-649
On March 27, a dog kept in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture, died after manifestation such clinical signs as intense pruritus and self-mutilation. As Aujeszky's disease had been prevalent in swine since 1981 in the area, a canine case was suspected. At autopsy, no significant gross visceral lesion was observed but histopathological observations revealed moderate perivascular cell infiltration, gliosis and neuronophagy in the medulla oblongata and cervical cord. Two rabbits inoculated with a mixture of the brain and spinal cord homogenates and a mixture of the lung and spleen homogenates, respectively, died 4 days after showing pruritus. A cytopathic agent was recovered from the spinal cord of the affected dog in PK-15 cell cultures. The cultures of PK-15 and MA-104 cells inoculated with the agent showed clear cytopathic effect of cell rounding and large syncytia, in which intranuclear inclusion bodies were seen after Giemsa's staining. Electron microscopic observations of the concentrated culture fluid of infected PK-15 cells revealed many particles characteristic of Herpesviridae. The agent was immunologically identified as Aujeszky's disease virus by immunofluorescence.
