An unusual presentation of pseudocowpox associated with an outbreak of pustular ulcerative vulvovaginitis in a Swedish dairy herd

Abstract

Species Pseudocowpox virus (PCPV; family Poxviridae) is known to cause pustular cutaneous disease in cattle. We describe an outbreak of pseudocowpox with an unusual clinical picture in a free-stall dairy herd of similar to 80 cows. Approximately 90% of the cows had vesicles, erosions, papules, and scabs on the vulva and vaginal mucosa. Histologic analysis of biopsy tissues indicated a primary, although not specified, viral infection. Transmission electron microscopy revealed parapoxvirus particles in both tissue and vesicular materials. Deep sequencing analysis of extracted DNA from swabbed vesicle areas gave a contig of nearly 120,000 nucleotides, matching the PCPV strain VR 634 with 100% identity. Analyses confirmed the absence of other potential causes of pustular vulvovaginitis such as bovine herpesvirus 1 and Ureaplasma diversum. A rolling cow brush was suspected to be the fomite.

Keywords

Cattle; pseudocowpox virus; pustular ulcerative vulvovaginitis

Published in

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation
2018, Volume: 30, number: 2, pages: 256-259 Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC

SLU Authors

• Valarcher, Jean-Francois

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1040638717737126

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/93871