This widespread viral infection is named after the Hungarian veterinary pathologist Aladar Aujeszky, who first described the disease in 1902. It is caused by the porcine herpesvirus and can affect dogs and cats, as well as cattle, sheep, and goats, and is almost always fatal. The disease, also known as pseudorabies, cannot be transmitted to humans. According to current legislation, pseudorabies is a notifiable animal disease and is controlled by the state.
The main hosts of the pathogen are pigs and rats. Pigs infect each other through direct contact via droplet infection. The most common sources of infection for dogs and cats are raw or undercooked pork and hunting waste. The animals ingest the virus with the infected meat, which then enters the digestive tract where it can multiply. It then spreads throughout the entire organism via the bloodstream. Further multiplication takes place in the brain, leading to inflammation of the brain and spinal cord with destruction of the nerve tissue.
In pigs, the disease is only life-threatening for suckling piglets. These usually die without showing any symptoms. Piglets over ten weeks old show muscle twitching, movement and behavioral disorders. Older pigs, on the other hand, are the main virus carriers and mainly show respiratory symptoms and miscarriages.
In all other mammals, the disease is always fatal. The first symptoms appear within three to four days after infection (incubation period). Affected cats are noticeable due to extreme vocalizations, restlessness, excessive salivation, and in some cases vomiting. As the disease progresses, muscle twitching, extreme itching, aggression, movement disorders, and convulsions appear throughout the body, which is why the name pseudorabies was coined. The animal usually dies 12 to 48 hours after the first symptoms appear.
If you observe or have observed any of the symptoms described above in your animal, please consult a veterinarian immediately, even if the animal has already died, as even a suspected case of pseudorabies must be reported to the official veterinarian.
Your veterinarian will make a preliminary diagnosis based on the characteristic symptoms in conjunction with your preliminary report. If you know what your cat has eaten or what possible carriers it has come into contact with, an examination of the carrier or the meat can provide evidence. Otherwise, direct detection of the virus is only possible in a dead animal. Antibodies can only be detected in the blood four to five days after infection. As the animals usually die before this time, this test is not practical.
According to current knowledge, there is no treatment available for dogs and cats. Once the disease has broken out, it always leads to death within 12 to 48 hours in these animals. Dogs or cats presented to a veterinarian with clear, severe symptoms of pseudorabies should be euthanized to spare them further suffering.
Pseudorabies is a notifiable animal disease that is controlled by the government in Germany and many other countries. Regular blood tests and necessary quarantines are carried out on pig farms. To prevent the spread of pseudorabies, it may also be necessary to kill animals as a precautionary measure. This is referred to as culling.
In heavily infected areas, pigs can be vaccinated. However, this does not protect against infection, only against the symptoms, so that farmers do not suffer any losses. Infected pigs still represent a source of infection, which is why vaccination is prohibited in Aujeszky's disease-free countries (Germany has been considered free of Aujeszky's disease in domestic pigs since 2003). There is no vaccine for dogs and cats.
However, compliance with certain measures can reduce the risk of infection for dogs and cats. Since pigs are the main carriers and excreters of the virus, dogs and cats should not be kept together with them. Furthermore, when feeding pork, care should be taken to ensure that it is always cooked thoroughly, as heat reliably kills the pathogen.
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