Arun George

Neurological Investigation and Treatment of Polioencephalomalacia affected goats - Mannuthy Department of Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences 2000



Seven goats diagnosed to be suffering from polioencephalomalacia
were used for the present study. It included detailed clinical and neurological
examination, CSF collection and analysis, electroencephalography, cranial
radiography, histopathology of brain and assessment of the therapeutic
efficacy of thiamine hydrochloride intravenously and bismuth carbonate orally
in PEM cases.
History of the affected animals suggested that feeding of rice gruel (a
carbohydrate rich diet) could be one of the predisposing causes for the
development of PEM of goats in Kerala. The characteristic clinical signs
were head tilt, lateral deviation of head, nystagmus, circling, staggering gait,
broad based stance and lying only on one side.
Nervous system examination revealed depressed behaviour and deficits
in posture and gait. Majority of the cranial nerves did not show deficits.
Defects in postural reaction and abnormalities in spinal cord reflexes were
detected.
CSF examination revealed a significant increase in the mean total
protein concentration and a non-significant increase in the total leucocyte

count.


Electroencephalograms revealed continuous slow waves and



asynunetric waves. Another abnormality was high amplitude slow activity.
Histopathology of brain revealed necrosis of neurons of the pyramidal and
fusiform cell layers of the cerebral cortex with neuronophagia, satellitosis,
perivascular oedema, perivascular cuffing and neovascularisation of grey
matter. Out of the seven cases, six animals responded to the treatment with
thiamine hydrochloride at the rate of 50 mg/kg body weight twice daily
intravenously and bismuth carbonate, 15g per animal, orally as a drench for
four days.


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