Human catpox/cowpox infection
Yirrell, D.L.; Vestey, J.P.; Norval, M.; Aldridge, R.D.
Veterinary Record 127(1): 24
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 2166975 Document Number: 364088
A veterinary nurse who was scratched by an 8-year-old cat with severe pneumonia developed erythema, oedema and vesiculation around the scratch 2 days later. Two days later she became unwell and feverish and did not respond to erythromycin and ciprofloxacin. No virus was demonstrated by electron microscopical examination of vesical fluid or scab and attempts to isolate virus by tissue culture or inoculation of scab into a lamb were negative. Examination of serum samples, obtained 23 and 55 days after infection, by ELISA for serum IgM confirmed that the nurse had recently suffered an orthopox infection. Western blotting demonstrated specific reactivity of both serum samples with catpox virus, distinct from vaccinia, and a total lack of reactivity to the parapox virus, orf. The cat from which no serum was available, subsequently died of the pneumonia.