RESUMO

Between 1998 and 2001, several cases of ataxia and paresis followed by recumbency and death were reported in cows from different farms in a restricted area of the Argentinian Patagonia. Five cases of this cluster were studied and a diagnosis of malignant schwannoma was established. Electron microscopy (em) of tumour samples from three of the animals revealed intracytoplasmic or interstitial structures resembling retroviral particles. Attempts to isolate a viral agent from the tumours were unsuccessful but the epidemiological data and the em findings suggest a viral aetiology.

Assuntos

Doenças dos Bovinos/patologia , Neurilemoma/veterinária , Neoplasias da Medula Espinal/veterinária , Animais , Argentina , Bovinos , Doenças dos Bovinos/virologia , Feminino , Microscopia Eletrônica/veterinária , Neurilemoma/patologia , Neurilemoma/ultraestrutura , Neurilemoma/virologia , Retroviridae/ultraestrutura , Neoplasias da Medula Espinal/patologia , Neoplasias da Medula Espinal/ultraestrutura , Neoplasias da Medula Espinal/virologia , Raízes Nervosas Espinhais/patologia