ABSTRACT
We report an outbreak of bovine paralytic rabies in a feed lot in a disease-free area in southern Santa Fe, Argentina. Six of 122 unvaccinated steers died after showing neurological signs (morbimortality = 4.9%) for 24-72 hours, 40-75 days after being transported to the feed lot from a farm located in Formosa. Pathologic examination of the brain in 3 steers revealed gliosis, lymphoplasmacytic meningoencephalitis, and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in neurons, along with intralesional detection of the rabies virus antigen by immunohistochemistry in 2 cases. Rabies virus was confirmed by direct immunofluorescence in the brain, and further identified as variant 3a, typical of hematogenous bats, by inoculation in mice followed by indirect immunofluorescence. This represents the first communication of bovine paralytic rabies described in the Pampas plain in Argentina, and evidences that the transport of cattle from endemic to disease-free areas could represent a mechanism of dissemination of this communicable zoonotic disease.
