title: Generalized fatal Cowpox virus infection in a cat with transmission to a human contact case.
abstract: A 4-month-old female domestic shorthair cat was infected by a virus of the Poxvirus family. The animal developed a severe pneumonia and generalized ulcerating lesions of the skin. Histologically, typical eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies indicative of an Orthopoxvirus (OPV) infection were present. The lung showed grey-white to haemorrhagic nodular lesions with a central zone of complete necrosis of alveolar and bronchial tissue. Electron microscopy from skin and lung nodules revealed typical square-shaped OPV particles. Cultivation of the virus on chorio-allantoic membranes of embryonated chicken eggs resulted in haemorrhagic plaques. Restriction enzyme analysis, PCR and sequencing of the D8L gene identified the OPV isolate as a typical Cowpox virus. It was transmitted by the cat to a human contact person who developed a local nodular dermatitis at the inoculation site in association with signs of general infection and had an increase of OPV-specific neutralizing antibodies in paired serum samples.
authors.affiliation: Landeslabor Brandenburg, Ringstr. 1030, D-15236 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alex
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schirrmeier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hlinak
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koschinski
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beyreiss
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: C-P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Czerny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D002415:Cats; D015605:Cowpox / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary; D015608:Cowpox virus / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D013045:Species Specificity; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral