Evidence of rustrela virus-associated feline staggering disease in Sweden since the 1970s.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Staggering disease (SD) is a severe neurological disease that has been regularly reported in Swedish cats since the beginning of the 1970s. The aetiology of SD has been debated, but novel rustrela virus (RusV) was recently suggested as the causative agent in Swedish cases dating from 2017 onwards. However, whether RusV was associated with earlier cases of feline SD in Sweden remained unknown. Further, presence of RusV in extraneural tissues of RusV-infected cats and viral transmission routes for RusV are still unknown. Therefore, we investigated the presence of RusV in nervous tissue of historical cases of plausible feline SD in Sweden, dating back to the 1970s, as well as the presence of RusV in selected extraneural tissues. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded brain and s

SUBMITTER: Thilen E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11585236 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature