title: Diagnosis of orf virus infection in humans by the polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: The orf virus is the causal agent of contagious ecthyma in goats and sheep. The infection can be transmitted to humans and represents a typical example of occupational zoonosis. In Italy, the incidence of human infection remains uncertain because the disease is rarely reported or diagnosed. In this paper, we report a case of human orf virus infection and the laboratory methods of diagnosis. We demonstrated a genomic identity between the conserved and the variable regions of the genome of the viral strains isolated from the human patient and from the infected sheep confirming that there is no specific clone infecting humans rather than animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scagliarini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gallina
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dal Pozzo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battilani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciulli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prosperi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pampiglione
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004474:Ecthyma, Contagious / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009923:Orf virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018634:Veterinarians; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral