Multifocal Cutaneous Orf Virus Infection in Goats in the Amazon Region, Brazil

Abstract

Orf virus is the etiological agent of contagious ecthyma, a severe exanthematic disease that affects small ruminants. Orf virus is zoonosis that is associated with occupational contact with infected animals in human disease. Clinically, contagious ecthyma is characterized by the appearance of vesicles, pustules, ulcers, and papillomatous proliferative lesions on the skin of the lips and nostrils. Here we describe a case of lethal cutaneous multifocal Orf virus infection in goats in the Amazon region of Brazil. Exanthematic lesions were collected and epidemiological and clinical data were obtained. Orf virus was detected using PCR amplification of the whole B2L, VIR, and VEGF open reading frame. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this virus clustered together with the Orf virus samples isolated during classical contagious ecthyma. The present work is the first to report a severe proliferative Orf virus case in South America.

Isolation and molecular characterization of contagious pustular dermatitis virus from Rajasthan, India

“…Exposure of Animals to stress or immune-suppression as a result of therapy or primary viral infection can accentuate the severity of disease [8]. Because of the persistence or repetition of ORFV infections, it is very difficult to eliminate this virus and hence CPDV infection is considered a re-emerging disease in India and other countries [2,4]. Given the increased incidences and economic importance of CPDV in small ruminant population in India, it will be worthwhile to obtain more epidemiological information about this disease for effective surveillance, to carefully monitor and handle the outbreaks and to develop an appropriate vaccine.…”

Pathogenesis in lambs and sequence analysis of putative virulence genes of Brazilian orf virus isolates

“…Since all inoculated animals had similar age, breed and genetic background and were maintained in the same conditions, it is likely that isolate SV581/11 is indeed less virulent than the other isolates. In this sense, differences in ORFV virulence may explain, in part, the variation in severity and clinical presentation reported in some outbreaks of contagious ecthyma (Salles et al, 1992;Smith et al, 2002;de la Concha-Bermejillo et al, 2003;Leite-Browning, 2008;de Oliveira et al, 2012). Sequencing of putative virulence genes revealed some changes (mutations/deletions) -especially in the VEGF gene of isolate SV581/11 -that might contribute for the attenuated phenotype.…”

“…personal communication). Indeed, variable severity and variable clinical presentations are frequent features of contagious ecthyma in sheep and goats (Coates and Hoff, 1990;Yeruham et al, 2000;de la Concha-Bermejillo et al, 2003;McElroy and Bassett, 2007;de Oliveira et al, 2012). In addition to host and environmental factors, the function of virulence and/or immunomodulatory genes may influence the pathogenesis and, thus, the severity of ORFVassociated disease (Tan et al, 1991;Savory et al, 2000;Scagliarini et al, 2006;.…”

“…The field descriptions range from hyperemia and small pustules around the mouth and muzzle (Schmidt et al, 2012a,b) to the presence of scabby, proliferative and exsudative multifocal skin and mucocutaneous lesions (Salles et al, 1992;de Oliveira et al, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2012a,b). Long lasting severe lesions affecting the esophagus, intestine and respiratory tract have also been reported (Leite-Browning, 2008).…”

“…Long lasting severe lesions affecting the esophagus, intestine and respiratory tract have also been reported (Leite-Browning, 2008). A goat outbreak with high lethality and the presence of multifocal nodular and proliferative lesions of varied size disseminated throughout the body, teats, udder, vulva, base of the tail, abdomen, around the hooves, lips and nostrils has been recently described in Northern Brazil (de Oliveira et al, 2012). Atypical presentation with predominance of lesions on the limbs and head persisting for more than two months have been described in sheep outbreaks in the USA (Smith et al, 2002).…”