The cause of a brain disease in cats that makes them develop symptoms such as staggering is a previously unknown virus, a study suggests. The pathogen is a rustrela virus and is probably carried by wood mice.
The findings show that rustrela viruses are more diverse and widespread than previously thought, according to at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and his colleagues. They write that the viruses might cause neurological diseases in other mammals besides cats, 鈥減ossibly even including humans鈥�.
Staggering disease was first described in Sweden in the 1970s. It causes inflammation of the brain and spine, and the most obvious symptom is the loss of control of the hind legs, hence the name. There is no treatment, and cats with the disease are usually euthanised. The disease appears to be limited to Sweden and a few other countries in Europe.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty rare,鈥� says at the National Veterinary Institute in Sweden, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the latest study.
Previous studies by Wensman and others had suggested the cause of staggering disease . We already knew that bornaviruses can cause neurological symptoms in a wide range of mammals. But when Matiasek鈥檚 team studied brain tissue from 29 cats with staggering disease from Sweden, Austria and Germany, they didn鈥檛 find any bornaviruses.
Instead, they found RNAs and proteins belonging to a previously unknown rustrela virus in 28 out of the 29 cats. The virus wasn鈥檛 found in brain tissue from cats with other or no neurological disorders. That strongly suggests the new rustrela virus is the cause of staggering disease, the team concludes.
Wensman agrees that the rustrela virus probably caused the symptoms in the 28 cats, but says it is possible that bornavirus infections can also cause these symptoms. Some disorders can be caused by more than one virus, he says. To settle the matter, the team needs to examine stored tissue from cats where other groups have previously reported signs of bornavirus infection.
There are many other causes of , some of which are treatable.
Reference: bioRxiv,聽
