Borna's disease

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The Borna disease or infectious brain and spinal cord inflammation of equines is a viral infectious disease that the brain and the spinal cord of mainly horses and sheep attacks and by the virus of Borna disease is caused (BoDV). The virus is related to the causative agents of distemper , rabies and measles . The virus can be transmitted to humans.

The Borna disease among the notifiable animal diseases , the reporting obligation in Germany was abolished with effect from February 26 2011th From March 2020 there will again be a reporting requirement in Germany.

Symptoms

Borna viruses mainly affect the limbic system in the brain , which controls emotions and behavior. It is assumed that the virus competes with the messenger substance glutamate for the docking points on the nerve cells, so that this is a competitive inhibition. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the virus multiplies in animals in the old brain (limbic system). The Bornash disease virus probably disrupts the chemical balance of the neurotransmitters in the brain.

The spectrum of symptoms is multifaceted and includes a variety of disorders in behavior, exercise, food intake and performance level.

Clinical symptoms are changes in behavior, movement disorders and an impairment of sensitivity and the sensory system such as: separation from the herd, depression, chewing empty, lowered head position, teeth grinding, e.g. T. increased urge to move, z. T. aggressiveness against others, e.g. T. great nervousness , decreased participation in the area, spasms and salivation. In the final stage, lying down with rowing movements, attacks of fever.

The large-scale study in Saarland in 2004 showed that it was noticeable that numerous horses had a complex of symptoms in a wide variety of combinations. In the course of the epidemic it became clear that often only individual symptoms were observed. These included: disorientation, loss of performance, aggressiveness, irritability , jumpiness, listlessness , apathy, sleepy behavior for days, increased inexplicable scratching with the hooves, changing appetite, sensitivity to light , head shaking, standing anomalies (spread position), recurring colic and muscle twitching.

The natural infection presumably occurs via the mucous membrane of the upper airways, the throat or the olfactory mucosa . With regard to a virus reservoir, an infection in small rodents cannot be ruled out. The shrew in particular has recently been discussed as a natural virus carrier.

history

The heated head disease in horses caused by the Bornash disease virus was first described in 1813. It got its name when an entire stable full of cavalry horses fell ill in the town of Borna in 1894 . Ernst Joest and Kurt Degen discovered the Joest-Degenschen nuclear inclusion bodies in 1909 , which, if present, are still used today to detect Borna disease. In 1935 the pathogen was identified as a virus.

In recent times, however, individual diseases have also been detected in other even- toed ungulates such as cattle and goats , cats , monkeys and even ostriches .

In 2009, parts of the virus were found in the human genome, but a pathogenic or immunological effect or function was still unknown for a long time. In 2015 a Bornavirus infection became known. However, it was a variant known from squirrels (VSBV-1). A second case with three deaths only became known later: between 2011 and 2013, three men from Saxony-Anhalt died of progressively worsening encephalitis within 2-4 months. These were squirrel breeders of the species Sciurus variegatoides , who knew each other and exchanged animals, in which, as in the three dead, the VSBV-1 could be detected. In 2018, three out of four people infected with the BoDV-1 strain through an organ transplant died of encephalitis. The organ donor had previously shown no symptoms.

Animal disease control

In Austria, Borna infestation is notifiable, in Switzerland it is only recorded by veterinarians via a voluntary reporting system of horse diseases.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Announcement regarding the compulsory reporting of cerebrospinal inflammation in horses. November 12, 1896  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ First ordinance amending the ordinance on notifiable animal diseases of February 11, 2011 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 251 )
  2. ↑ New version of the ordinance on notifiable animal diseases of December 20, 2005 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 3516 ), later changes are not included
  3. ↑ Susanne Modrow, Dietrich Falke, Hermann Schätzl, Uwe Truyen: Molecular Virology , Springer-Verlag, 2009, p. 281f.
  4. ↑ Borna Disease Virus (BDV) infection in cats. A concise review based on current knowledge. (PDF file; 751 kB)
  5. ↑ Acute encephalitis associated with infection with Borna disease virus 1, Germany (PDF file)