[Polyarteritis nodosa: general aspects and occurrence in domestic animals, particularly in association with nosematosis in blue foxex (author's transl)].

A survey of polyarteritis nodosa in domestic animals is presented, including a description of the patho-morphological lesions and a discussion on the causal factors. This vascular disease occurs in domestic animals in association with both viral infections (infectious plasmacytosis in mink), bacterial infections (erysipelas in swine), and protozoan infections (nosematosis in blue foxes). The conclusion is drawn that the observations in domestic animals support the view that immunological disturbances are involved as pathogenetic mechanisms. Nosematosis is dealt with in more detail; the infecting agent (fig. 1), Nosema cuniculi (Encephalitozoon cuniculi), is a widespread mamalian parasite, which causes cerebral and renal lesions in blue foxes of the same type as in animals of other species. In addition, the vascular system throughout the body is affected, resulting in patho-morphological alterations corresponding to classical polyarteritis nodosa (Fig. 2). In the early stages of involvement, masses of parasitic organisms are regularly found within the walls of affected arteries (Fig. 3). This disease is frequently lethal, and always accompanied by elevated values of gamma globulins. Both the hypergammaglobulinemia and the tissue lesions, seem at times, at least in part, to be reversible.