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Case Reports
. 2003 Nov;9(11):1458-61.
doi: 10.3201/eid0911.020814.

Cowpox with severe generalized eruption, Finland

Paula M Pelkonen  1 , Kyllikki Tarvainen, Arja Hynninen, Eva R K Kallio, Keikki Henttonen, Airi Palva, Antti Vaheri, Olli Vapalahti
Affiliations
Case Reports

Cowpox with severe generalized eruption, Finland

Paula M Pelkonen et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003 Nov.

Abstract

Cowpox with a severe, generalized eruption was diagnosed in an atopic 4-year-old girl by electron microscopy, virus isolation, polymerase chain reaction, and immunoglobulin (Ig) M and low-avidity IgG antibodies. The hemagglutinin gene of the isolate clustered with a Russian cowpox virus strain, and more distantly, with other cowpox and vaccinia virus strains. The patient's dog had orthopoxvirus-specific antibodies, indicating a possible transmission route. In Finnish wild rodents, orthopoxvirus seroprevalences were 0%-92%, in humans the seroprevalence was 100% in the age group >50, decreasing towards younger age groups.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cowpox lesions on patient’s forearm on day 7 after onset of illness.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree of selected orthopoxvirus hemagglutinin genes based on Clustal X alignment and the maximum likelihood method TreePuzzle. Virus sequences used for the analysis were raccoonpox as an outgroup (GenBank accession no. M94169); cowpoxvirus strains Brighton Red (AF482758), FIN/T2000 (AY366477), GRI-90 (Z99047), Hamburg (Z99050), and Turkmenia (Z99048); vaccinia virus strains IOC (AF229248), Western Reserve (M93956), and Wyeth (Z99051); variola virus strains Bangladesh (L22579), Harvey (X65516) and India (X69198); camelpox virus (AF438165); Cantagalo orthopoxvirus (AF229247); monkeypox virus (Z99049); and rabbitpox virus (Z99049).
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