The Occurrence in Nature of "Equine Encephalomyelitis" in the Ring-Necked Pheasant

Abstract

Brain from pheasants dying of a disease inducing paresis, injected intracerebrally or intraperitoneally into mice, usually caused flaccid paralysis of the hind legs, hyperexcitability in some. Carried through 10 mouse passages it developed high titre. Serum of a rabbit immune to equine encephalitis afforded protection. Quail and Rhode Island Red chicks succumbed when inoculated; the virus could be recovered, also carried serially in chicks. Pheasant brain showed perivascular lesions unevenly throughout the cerebrum and meningitis. Around small blood vessels were infiltrations of lymphocytes, plasma cells and large mononuclears; polymorphs were almost entirely absent. Lesions in the quail were less marked, still less so in the mice and chiefly of a degenerative character.