Leucoencephalomyelitis of goat kids.

A leucoencephalomyelitis in 6 goat kids 2 to 5 months old is described. The disease was characterised by fever, ataxia, posterior paresis, circling and hyperaesthesia progressing to prostration. The neural lesion was confined to the white matter of the cerebellum and posterior brain stem in 4 kids, but in 2 others the cervical spinal cord was the main site affected. The lesion was characterised microscopically by dense perivascular cuffing with mononuclear cells, infiltration of the parenchyma with macrophages and a proliferation of glial cells and by a marked primary demyelination. In more advanced lesions, areas of the neurophil were replaced by a loose glial scar. There were associated pulmonary lesions of interstitial pneumonitis and hyperplasia of the peribronchiolar lymphoid tissue. Attempts to isolate an aetiological agent and to transmit the disease to young goat kids and lambs were unsuccessful. The disease has not been reported before in Australia but has distinct similarities to an infectious leucoencephalomyelitis of young goats which has been described in North America.