Epizootic congenital arthrogryposis-hydranencephaly syndrome in cattle: Isolation of Akabane virus from affected fetuses

Abstract

Previous serological studies strongly suggested Akabane virus to be the etiologic agent of epizootic abortion and congenital arthrogryposis-hydranencephaly in cattle, and this view was further corroborated in this study by the isolation of the virus from an aborted fetus in an epizootic of the disease and from a fetus extracted from a cow which was suggested by serologic tests to have a recent infection with the virus. The latter fetus had histological changes of encephalomyelitis and polymyositis, and specific antigens of Akabane virus was shown by the immunofluorescent technique in brain tissues as well as skeletal muscular tissues. The virus was recovered from various fetal tissues and fluids, and in relatively large amounts from brain, spinal cord, cerebral fluid, skeletal muscles and fetal placenta. The intracranial inoculation of suckling mice, 1–2 days of age, was the most sensitive system for Akabane virus isolation and Hm Lu-1, a continuous cell line from hamster lung, seemed almost as sensitive as suckling mice.