| Summary Information |
| Diseases / List of Viral Diseases /
Disease description: This disease page is currently
predominantly used in Wildpro to link
different data types and demonstrate inter-relationships. Whilst basic information is
available, It does not contain detailed information. |
| Alternative Names |
-- |
| Disease Agents |
Louping-ill virus
(LIV), a flavivirus in the tick-borne encephalitis complex (B209.4.w4) VECTORS:
Transmitted by Ixodes ricinus - Sheep tick.(B209.4.w4)
Further information on Disease Agents has
only been incorporated for agents recorded in species for which a full Wildpro
"Health and Management" module has been completed (i.e. for which a
comprehensive literature review has been undertaken). Only those agents with further
information available are linked below: |
| Infectious
Agent(s) |
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| Non-infectious
Agent(s) |
-- |
| Physical
Agent(s) |
-- Indirect / Secondary |
| General Description |
- Cause of disease and death in red grouse (Lagopus
lagopus - Willow ptarmigan) in heather moorlands of Scotland.
- Illness commonly seen in four to six week old birds (J3.75.w4)
- Reduced weight / poor condition of infected chicks compared to uninfected chicks.
- Increased mortality of infected chicks.
- Poor breeding success.
- (J3.95.w1, J19.81.w1)
- Frequently causes fatal encephalitis in sheep.
- Occasionally causes disease in horses, cattle, pigs
- Has been recorded as a cause of death in a farmed Capreolus
capreolus - Western roe deer fawn (J3.98.w1)and
nervous signs and death in a farmed adult Cervus
elaphus - Red deer (J3.102.w12)
- Occasional disease in humans: Zoonosis
- Not considered an important cause of clinical disease in wild mammals.
- (B209.4.w4)
Clinical signs:
- Signs of central nervous system dysfunction, particularly locomotor signs
- Variable from slight, transient ataxia to rapid-onset coma and death.
- Initial hyperexcitability with fine, particularly hind limb, muscle tremors
- Progressing to incoordination and exaggerated movements.
- May show "nervous" nibbling
- Progression to paralysis, convulsions, coma, death in 24-48 hours
- Alternatively recover over a few days
- May be residual neurological defects such as torticollis, paraplegia.
- May be change in temperament.
- In cattle, may manifest as recumbency while the animal remains bright
- Fever, often biphasic with second temperature rise associated with the development of
nervous signs.
(J15.13.w1) |
| Further Information |
Pathology:
In deer:
- Severe non-suppurative meningoencephalitis
- Meninges and throughout brain: marked perivascular cuffing with lymphoid cells, a few
monocytes and occasional neutrophils
- Focal gliosis; elongated nuclei in many microglia.
- (J3.102.w12,
J3.111.w4)
Regions / countries affected:
- Europe including United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway. (B209.4.w4)
Diagnosis:
- Detection of viral antigens in tissue sections by immunohistochemistry
- Virus isolation from brain or spinal cord (cell culture or intracerebral
inoculation of suckling mice) followed by identification using specific antisera.
- Detection of IgM specific antigen
- (J15.13.w1,
B209.4.w4)
Maintenance of infection in an area:
- Mountain hares and possibly deer may play an important role in
maintaining the populations of ticks responsible for transmission of louping ill
(particularly for feeding adult ticks) and by transmission of infection from infected to
uninfected ticks feeding on the same hare. (P23.1999S.w5)
- Red grouse may feed substantial numbers of nymphs and larvae. (P23.1999S.w5)
Prevention:
- In domestic animals, vaccination, tick reduction of infected pastures and prophylactic
acaricidal treatment (e.g. with synthetic pyrethroids) against ticks. (J15.13.w1, B209.4.w4)
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| Techniques linked to this disease |
|
| Host taxa groups /species |
Further information on Host species has only
been incorporated for species groups for which a full Wildpro "Health and
Management" module has been completed (i.e. for which a comprehensive literature
review has been undertaken). |
