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ABSTRACT: Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive bacterium commonly reported in soils and plants that occupy various ecological habitats, and the main source of contamination for cattle is silage. This report described a case of fetal loss associated with B. cereus infection in a cow. An 8-month-old, Nelore female bovine fetus from a beef farm was submitted for necropsy. A gross examination revealed fibrinous pleuropneumonia and fibrin exudation on the liver surface. The morphological diagnosis was restricted to the lungs and liver. In the lungs there was fibrinosuppurative pleuropneumonia associated with numerous aggregates of rod-shaped bacteria. In the liver there was moderate focally extensive fibrinous peri hepatitis.The lungs, liver, thoracic, and abomasal fluid cultures yielded pure cultures of B. cereus, indicating that these bacteria should be recognized as a cause of bovine abortion in fetuses that macroscopically present fibrin in the abdominal and thoracic cavity.

Achados epidemiológicos, clínicos, patológicos e microbiológicos de 13 casos de meningoencefalite necrosante pelo Herpesvírus Bovino (BHV), afetando 12 rebanhos bovinos ocorridos no período de março de 1999 a agosto de 2000 em 11 municípios do Estado de Mato Grosso são descritos. Onze surtos ocorreram em sistemas de criação extensiva, afetando com maior freqüência animais da raça nelore, e idade média de 24 meses com uma variação de dois a 72 meses. Os principais sinais clínicos descritos foram as alterações neurológicas, sendo relatados salivação profusa, descarga nasal e ocular serosa, depressão profunda, incoordenação, andar a esmo ou em círculo, cegueira, diminuição do tonus lingual, decúbito lateral com movimentos de pedalagem, opistótono e morte. Ausência de alterações foi o relato mais comum durante a necropsia. Em alguns casos, observou-se congestão encefálica difusa, hemorragias submeningeanas multifocais, achatamento de circunvoluções cerebrais e áreas focais de malacias. Os principais achados microscópicos foram meningoencefalite com corpúsculos de inclusão eosinofílicos, intranucleares em astrócitos. As áreas de malacia afetavam principalmente o córtex cerebral. Foi realizado isolamento e caracterização viral em três de um total de sete amostras encaminhadas Em um dos casos, dos que houve isolamento viral, o diagnóstico histopatológico foi de polioencefalomalacia não se observando meningoencefalite e corpúsculos de inclusão.The epidemiological, clinical, pathological and microbiological aspects of 13 cases of necrotizing meningo-encephalitis associated to bovine herpesvirus are described. The disease is described in 12 cattle herds from March 1999 to August 2000 at 11 counties of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The outbreaks were described in cattle raised on farms in which, mostly Zebu breeds were involved. The average age of the cattle affected was 24 months, ranging from two to 72 months old. Neurological manifestations were the main clinical signs noticed. The animals were separated from the herd. The animals showed profuse salivation, serous nasal and ocular discharge, profound depression, incoordination, walking or running in circles, blindness, diminution of tongue tonus, trembling and opistotonus. Most of the cases had no macroscopic alterations. Some cases had diffuse encephalic congestion, multifocal submeningeal hemorragics, flattened cerebral circumvolutions and focal discoloration of the cortex. The main microscopic lesions in the 12 cases were necrotizing meningo-encephalitis with eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in astrocytes, and cortical malacia. Virus was isolated from three cases submitted from a total of seven examined. One of the cases with virus isolation at the histophatology examination yielded a diagnosis of polioencephalomalacia.