ABSTRACT
The peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is proving to be a disease which has an increasingly significant economic impact on a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East, and possibly also on the Indian sub-continent. The antigenic relationships which exist between the PPR and rinderpest viruses pose problems for diagnosis which complicates rinderpest control and eradication programmes. Progress has recently been made in regard to diagnosis (specific nucleic probes and monoclonal antibodies), as well as control (homologous vaccine). International legislation remains to be established and epidemiological surveys should be conducted in order to determine the exact geographical distribution of the disease.
Subject(s)
Rinderpest virus/physiology , Rinderpest/epidemiology , Africa/epidemiology , Animals , Middle East/epidemiology , Rinderpest/diagnosis , Rinderpest/microbiology , Rinderpest/prevention & control , Rinderpest virus/chemistry , Rinderpest virus/ultrastructureABSTRACT
Six Freesian steers were subcutaneously inoculated with the virulent rinderpest virus strain Kabete "0" and sacrificed at the height of fever. Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues were stained according to the peroxidase anti-peroxidase (PAP) technique. Labelling of viral antigen, both in the cytoplasm and in the nuclei of infected cells, was observed in the epithelial cells of the upper and lower alimentary tract and in lymphoid organs, i.e. spleen, lymph nodes, pharyngeal tonsils, Peyer's patches and thymus. Electron microscopy studies confirmed the results.
Subject(s)
Rinderpest virus/ultrastructure , Rinderpest/pathology , Animals , Cattle , Epithelium/pathology , Immunoenzyme Techniques , Inclusion Bodies, Viral/ultrastructure , Male , Microscopy, ElectronSubject(s)
Apicomplexa/growth & development , Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral/growth & development , Lymphocytes/microbiology , Pestivirus/growth & development , Rinderpest virus/growth & development , Animals , Apicomplexa/ultrastructure , Cattle , Cell Line, Transformed , Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral , Lymphocytes/parasitology , Microscopy, Electron , Rinderpest virus/ultrastructure , Theileriasis/parasitologyABSTRACT
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) succumbed to experimental infection with virulent rinderpest (RP) virus that was also lethal to cattle and goats. The deer developed clinical signs typical of RP and died 5 and 6 days post-inoculation. Infection was confirmed by recovery of virus from blood before death, from lymph node tissue after necropsy, and demonstration of specific complement fixing antigen in those tissues. Electron micrographs of infected Vero cell cultures revealed extracellular virions and intracytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusions made of randomly distributed fibrillar strands.
