12
ENZOOTIC
BOVINE
PARAPLEGIA
[Vol. XXVI, Part I,
Treatment with calcium and magnesium salts
The line of treatment followed was subcutaneous injections of 100 c.c. of 20 per
cent magnesium sulphate solution and 40 c.c. of 25 per cent calcium borogluconate
solution each day for 3 or 4 consecutive days injected subcutaneously. The
results are given in Table II. Six chronic and subacute cases gradually improved
and recovered, while five acute and subacute cases died without any signs of im-
provement after treatment.
Histopathological examination
Sections of liver, spleen, kidney and heart revealed normal histological features,
while sections of lungs from two cases had slight congestion and in other two cases the
lungs were normal. However in none of the four cases, lungs had any indication
of pleuropneumonia.
Histopathology
In one of the four animals (Case No. 3), sections of spinal cord did not reveal
any characteristic histopathological features, while the sections of brain and spinal
cord of the other three cases (Case No. 1, 2 and 4) had the following lesions. The
white matter of the spinal cord was chiefly involved although the grey matter was
also affected to a lesser extent. The lesion was one of acute softening, in which
there was not only the myelin degeneration but also the ground substance was
loosened and destroyed, resulting in a status spongiosus which was an impending
factor in the preparation of intact paraffin sections (Plate IV, Fig. 1). In spite of
good fixation of the brain and spinal cord, removed immediately after the death,
this defect could not be improved. The most distinctive histological feature was
the presence of numerous radially disposed vessels with prominent thickened walls
due to denser reticulum (Plate II, Fig. 2) lying in disorderly cracks and crevices.
Focal cellulor infilteration, liquefaction and microcavitation were observed in all the
three cases (Plate II, Fig. 1 and 2). Definite changes in axis cylinders were cons-
tantly present. Swollen scanty axis cylinders, distorted and irregularly globose,
within the transversely cut tube representing myelin sheath were seen in haemo-
toxylin eosin stained sections. Perhaps, many of the empty round spaces seen in
the paraffin sections might be the result of the falling out of such irregularly globose
bodies, contained in those spaces (Plate IV, Fig. 2). On the whole the histological
picture of the spinal cord in all the three cases resembled the lesions of focal lique-
factive encephalomyelomyelomalacia as described by Innes [1951] and stated to be the
only diagnostic feature of cerebro-spinal nematodiasis. The most important finding
of the histological study besides the microscopic lesions already described was
the detection of sections of immature nematodes (Plate III, Fig. 1 and 2) in the
lumbar portion of the spinal cord of two cases (Case No. 1 and 4). The nematode
observed in the sections of the tissues appeared more developed than those in the
preservative fluid (Plate III, Fig. 1).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The bovine paraplegia and paralysis observed in Hosnagar and Sagar taluks
of Shimoga district of Mysore State in its nature, course and symptoms appeared
to be identical with the so-called " Hidden disease " of south Kanara district in