A novel enterovirus in lambs with poliomyelitis and brain stem encephalitis. A novel enterovirus in lambs with poliomyelitis and brain stem encephalitis

Recently, Forth et al. (2019; doi: 10.3201/eid2505.181573) described a series of cases of recumbent preweaned lambs which had severe nonsuppurative encephalomyelitis with neuronal replication of a novel picornavirus. The authors suggested that this infection maybe widespread, but usually subclinical and self-limiting, particularly in older animals. Here, we describe an episode of ataxia progressing into paralysis and recumbency in a herd of lambs in Austria, with pathological lesions indistinguishable from the ones reported earlier. We were able to identify the likely causative pathogen, another novel picornavirus.