Affected cheetahs become blind and unresponsive to their environment.
The lesions in their brains are unlike those of any neurologic disease in other species, and the cause of these lesions is still unknown. The proposed project alms to better characterize the lesions in the brain of affected cheetahs and investigate several possible causes. Other possible risk factors, such as drug exposure or concur-rent diseases, also will be explored. This multi-institutional collaborative effort has the unanimous endorsement of the AZA Cheetah SSP whose Master Plan has been seriously impacted by this disease. These studies will yield important new information on the pathogenesis of this disease that will be used to recommend preventive health measures to avert future losses.