Orf virus leads to self-limited, subacute cutaneous infections in children who have occupational or recreational contact with infected small ruminants. Breaches in the integument and contact with animals recently vaccinated for orf may be important risk factors in transmission. Common childhood behaviors are likely important factors in the provocation of significant contact (ie, bites) or in unusual lesion location (eg, facial lesions). Clinician recognition is important in distinguishing orf infection from life-threatening cutaneous zoonoses. Recently developed molecular techniques provide diagnostic precision and newer topical therapeutics may hasten healing.
Morphologic diagnosis of a virus infection encountered in routine postmortem examinations would depend in general, if not always, on the recognition of specific cellular changes such as are now generally accepted as presumptive evidence of an infection of this nature. Especially significant would be the presence of cellular inclusions of certain types, cytoplasmic or nuclear or both. The inclusions of the cytoplasm are sometimes more characteristic of the particular virus concerned than are those which occur within nuclei, and in certain instances they are pathognomonic of the infecting agent. Although intranuclear inclusions are less characteristic of the specific virus, it is probable that they too are unique for each virus that causes them, notwithstanding one's inability to differentiate them accurately at present.In the diagnosis of a virus infection one also takes into account the type or types of cells involved and the effect on them of the agent concerned, as well as the distribution and general character of the lesions.Because of our interest in virus infections, we have for several years been on the lookout for evidences of the activity of these agents in our routine autopsies, especially in examinations of the respiratory tract, because it is well known that the respiratory system is affected in a number of virus diseases in man. In spite of rather careful obser¬ vations, we have only relatively recently encountered evidence which could reasonably be interpreted as indicating the activity of a virus in the respiratory system, except in certain instances in the lungs of chil-
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.