EQUINE MULTINODULAR PULMONARY FIBROSIS IN A DONKEY IN GERMANY.

LEHMANN, B; BARTON, A; DAMIANI, ARMANDO M.; GEHLEN, H

Congreso; European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress 2015; 2015

A 5-year-old donkey was referred with a history of one daypyrexia, lethargy and respiratory distress. First signs of a respiratorydisease in the form of coughing were shown four months ago.The patient had tachypnea with increased respiratory effort andwas in moderate body condition. Laboratory findings includedleukocytosis, hyperfibrinogenemia and severe hypoxemia. Thoracicultrasound examination showed disruption of the pleural surfaceand thoracic radiographs revealed signs of a mild interstitial pattern.The patient died peracutely before further diagnostic testscould be performed. Gross pathology showed multifocal, firm,well-demarcated, pale nodules throughout the lung. Overall thelung was voluminous with multifocal rib impressions. Histologicallya severe, chronic-active, fibrous interstitial pneumonia withnumerous syncytial cells, hyperplasia of type II pneumocytes andacute alveolar wall necrosis was evident. The clinical signs,necropsy findings and lack of other pathogens corresponded wellwith EMPF and therefore samples of frozen lung tissue weretransmitted for further virus examination. The PCR testing forEHV-5 was negative. Subsequently a pan-herpesvirus nested PCRwith specificity for the DNA polymerase gene was conducted.Sequencing of the obtained second-round PCR product revealed100% identity when compared with Asinine herpesvirus type 5sequences by the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. To theauthors0 knowledge, this is the first report of an AHV-5 infectionleading to EMPF-like symptoms in a donkey in Europe.