Generalized Fatal Cowpox virus Infection in a Cat with Transmission to a Human Contact Case

• Published in: Zoonoses and public health Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 31 - 37
• Main Authors: Schulze, C., Alex, M., Schirrmeier, H., Hlinak, A., Engelhardt, A., Koschinski, B., Beyreiß, B., Hoffmann, M., Czerny, C.-P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2007
• Subjects: Animals; Cat Diseases - transmission; Cats; Cowpox - pathology; Cowpox - transmission; Cowpox - veterinary; Cowpox virus; Cowpox virus - isolation & purification; Cowpox virus - pathogenicity; Cowpoxvirus; D8L gene; DNA, Viral - isolation & purification; ELISA; Fatal Outcome; feline; Female; human; Humans; Immunohistochemistry - veterinary; Male; Orthopoxvirus; PCR; Poxvirus; Species Specificity; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1863-1959; 1863-2378
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2007.00995.x

Summary 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.