old-dog encephalitis


old-dog encephalitis

A clinical form of canine distemper seen in adult dogs without signs of systemic disease, which is characterised by ataxia, compulsive movements (e.g., head pressing or pacing, hypermetria incoordination) and slowly progressive neurologic signs. While canine distemper antigen can be detected in the brain by fluorescent staining, dogs with ODE are not contagious and ODE is thus attributed to inflammation triggered by persistent viral infection in the CNS.