Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T22:03:48.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An outbreak of cowpox in captive cheetahs: virological and epidemiological studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2010

D. Baxby ,
D. G. Ashton ,
D. M. Jones  and
L. R. Thomsett
D. Baxby
Affiliation:
University of LiverpoolDepartment of Medical Microbiology, Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, L7 8XW
D. G. Ashton
Affiliation:
Zoological Society of London, Whipsnade Park, Dunstable, LL16 2LF
D. M. Jones
Affiliation:
Zoological Society of London, Whipsnade Park, Dunstable, LL16 2LF
L. R. Thomsett
Affiliation:
Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, AL9 7SZ
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper describes virological and epidemiological features of an infection which killed two of three affected cheetahs at Whipsnade Park in 1977. Two animals had profuse skin lesions and the third had an acute haemorrhagic pneumonia. The outbreak was shown to be caused by cowpox virus. Cowpox virus is believed to circulate in small wild animals, but the source of infection was not traced despite virological and serological tests on 93 captive and 102 wild animals.

Sub-clinical infections did not occur in susceptible contact cheetahs. Immune globulin did not influence the outcome and smallpox vaccine does not take in cheetahs. Management of any future outbreak will rely on prompt diagnosis and segregation of infected animals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , December 1982 , pp. 365 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

References

REFERENCES

Barnard, J. E. & Elford, W. J. (1931). The causative organism in infectious ectromelia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 109, 360–380.Google Scholar
Baxby, D. (1975). Identification and interrelationships of the variola/vaccinia subgroup of poxviruses. Progress in Medical Virology 19, 215–246.Google ScholarPubMed
Baxby, D. (1977). Is cowpox misnamed? a review often human cases. British Medical Journal i, 1379–1381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxby, D. & Ghaboosi, B. (1977). Laboratory characteristics of poxviruses isolated from captive elephants in Germany. Journal of General Virology 37, 407–414.Google ScholarPubMed
Baxby, D., Shackleton, W. B., Wheeler, J. & Turner, A. (1979). Comparison of cowpox-like viruses isolated from European zoos. Archives of Virology 61, 337–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boulter, E. A. (1957). The titration of vaccinial neutralizing antibody on chorio-allantoic membranes. Journal of Hygiene 55, 502–512.Google ScholarPubMed
Davies, J. H. T., Janes, L. R. & Downie, A. W. (1938). Cowpox infection in farmworkers. Lancet ii, 1534–1537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downie, A. W. (1939 a). A study of the lesions produced experimentally by cowpox virus. Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology 48, 361–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downie, A. W. (1939 b). The immunological relationship of the virus of spontaneous cowpox to vaccinia virus. British Journal of Experimental Pathology 20, 158–176.Google Scholar
Goodpasture, E. W. (1928). Diseases of fowls as exemplified by contagious epithelioma (fowlpox) of chickens and pigeons. In Filterable Viruses (ed. Rivers, T. M.), pp. 233–277. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Kaplan, C., Healing, T. D., Evans, N., Healing, L. & Prior, A. (1980). Evidence for infection by viruses in small British field rodents. Journal of Hygiene 84, 285–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marennikova, S. S., Maltseva, N. N., Korneeva, V. I. & Garanina, N. M. (1977). Outbreak of pox disease among Carnivora (Felidae) and Edentata. Journal of Infectious Diseases 135, 358–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marennikova, S. S. & Shelukhina, E. M. (1976). White rats as a source of pox infection in Carnivora of the family Felidae. Acta Virologica 20, 442.Google ScholarPubMed
McCarthy, K. & Helbert, D. (1960). A comparison of the haemagglutinins of variola, alastrim, vaccinia, cowpox and ectromelia viruses. Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology 79, 416–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsett, L. R., Baxby, D. & Denham, E. M. (1978). Cowpox in the domestic cat. Veterinary Record 108, 567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zwart, P., Gispen, R. & Peters, J. C. (1970). Cowpox in okapis Okapia johnstoni at Rotterdam zoo. British Veterinary Journal 127, 20–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar