A border disease-like syndrome in a southern Ontario sheep flock

An outbreak of nervous disease and abnormally hairy fleece was observed among newborn lambs in a closed flock of sheep in southern Ontario. The outbreak was investigated and found to closely parallel syndromes described in the British Isles and Australia and variously referred to as border disease, hypomyelinogenesis congenita and hairy shaker syndrome. Clinically affected lambs represented only a portion of the animals affected, considerable losses being caused by reproductive failure in the ewes and suboptimal performance in subclinically affected lambs. Sheep from the affected flock showed a strong serological response to the causative agent of bovine virus diarrhea/mucosal disease. The episode appeared to be chronologically related to the introduction of beef heifers from a sales barn. The paper discusses the results of clinico-epidemiological investigation of the outbreak in the light of current knowledge of border disease-like syndromes.