Coonhound paralysis

An adult male chimpanzee housed in an outdoor corral with a group of other chimpanzees had an acute onset of ascending motor paresis that progressed to flaccid tetraplegia over 3 days. Tendon reflexes were weak, and CSF protein concentration was high. The chimpanzee regained normal mobility over several months. This chimpanzee's ascending, symmetrical, monophasic, flaccid paralytic illness, with albuminocytologic dissociation in CSF, and recovery following supportive treatment, was characteristic of inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy, known as Guillain-Barré syndrome in human beings...

Prior study of coonhound paralysis (CHP) revealed an acute polyradiculoneuritis in raccoon-hunting dogs with clinical and pathologic features resembling those of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In the present series of five cases, the clinical features were investigated with emphasis on electrodiagnostic and CSF findings, and pathologic changes were evaluated with both the light and electron microscope. The demonstration of motor nerve conduction delay and CSF albuminocytologic dissociation in affected dogs further supported the clinical similarity of CHP and GBS...

From among a large group of dogs with acute tetraparesis, we identified 10 dogs with a distinct peripheral nerve disorder. Prior to the onset of signs, all of the dogs had been healthy, and none was known to have been exposed to a neurotoxin or raccoon bite. Weakness, with hypoactive or absent segmental reflexes, became progressively worse for 1 to 21 days. Results of electromyography and nerve conduction studies invariably were compatible with a diagnosis of polyneuropathy that predominantly affected proximal nerve segments...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Diffuse neuromuscular disease occurs sporadically in dogs. The most commonly reported diffuse neuromuscular diseases are polyradiculoneuritis (coonhound paralysis), tick paralysis, botulism, and myasthenia gravis (1,2,12). This clinical report describes an atypical presentation of a diffuse neuromuscular disease in a dog.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Coonhound paralysis (CHP), a polyradiculoneuritis of dogs that resembles the human Guillain-Barré syndrome, was experimentally reproduced by inoculating a dog with raccoon saliva. The test animal was a coonhound that had previously sustained two naturally occurring attacks of CHP. Success in inducing the disease strengthened the notion that raccoon saliva contains the etiologic factor for CHP and that only specifically susceptible dogs are at risk of developing CHP when exposed to this factor.