Diseases of the nervous system of cattle in the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil were evaluated by a retrospective study of 411 cattle necropsies performed in the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Campina Grande, Patos, Paraíba, from January 2000 to December 2008. Of the 411 cases analyzed, 139 (33.81%) were from cattle that presented nervous signs and the records were reviewed to determine the epidemiological, clinical, and macroscopic and histologic main features. Diagnosis was inconclusive in 28 cases (20.14%). In cases with diagnosis the main diseases were rabies (48.7% of the cases with nervous signs), brain abscesses (7.2%) including three cases of pituitary abscesses, malignant catarrhal fever (6.3%), botulism (6.3%), congenital malformations (4.5%), trauma (4.5%), tuberculosis (2.7%), tetanus (2.7%), infection by bovine hervesvirus-5 (2.7%), non-suppurative encephalomyelitis (2.7%), intoxication by Prosopis juliflora (2.7%), congenital status spongiosus of unknown etiology (1.8%), and polioencephalomalacia (1.8%). Other diseases diagnosed only once (0.9%) were cryptococcosis, listeriosis, thromboembolic encephalitis, lymphosarcoma, trypanosso-miasis, and babesiosis by Babesia bovis.
Diseases of cattle; botulism; brain abscess; malignant catarrhal fever; pituitary abscess; polioencephalomalacia; rabies; tuberculosis
