Clinical diagnosis of ovine listeriosis

Listerial encephalitis is essentially a localised infection of the brainstem that occurs when Listeria monocytogenes ascends the trigeminal nerve. Clinical signs vary according to dysfunction of the damaged nerve nuclei. This article uses high quality video recordings of sheep with suspected listeriosis to illustrate this range of clinical signs to assist veterinary practitioners in their clinical investigations. Cerebrospinal fluid sampling is a simple and safe procedure in small ruminants and yields useful information in the differential diagnosis of neurological diseases in small ruminants.