Cowpox Virus

Inappropriately named, cowpox virus has as its reservoir hosts rodents, from which the virus
occasionally spreads to domestic cats, cows, humans, and zoo animals, including large felids
(especially cheetahs, ocelots, panthers, lynx, lions, pumas, and jaguars), anteaters, mongooses,
rhinoceroses, okapis, and elephants. Cowpox virus infection is enzootic in Europe and adjacent
regions of Russia. During an outbreak at the Moscow zoo, the virus was also isolated from
laboratory rats used to feed the big cats, and a subsequent survey demonstrated infection in wild
susliks (Spermophilus citellus and S. suslicus) and gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) in Russia. In
Germany, transmission of cowpox virus occurred from rat to elephant to human. The elephant
exhibited disseminated ulcerative lesions of the skin and mucosal membranes. In the United
Kingdom, the reservoir species are bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), field voles (Microtus
agrestis), and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Zoonotic transmission of cowpox virus from
pet rats has been reported with increasing frequency from several countries in Europe. Lesions in
humans usually appear as single maculopapular eruptions on the hands or the face with minimal
systemic reaction, except in immunosuppressed patients.
Clinical cowpox disease in cattle is extremely rare, but occurs sporadically in enzootic areas.
Cowpox virus produces lesions on the teats and the contiguous parts of the udder of cows, and is
spread through herds by the process of milking. Cowpox virus infection in domestic cats is often
a more severe disease than in cattle or humans. There is typically a history of a single primary
lesion manifest as necrotizing dermatitis, generally on the head or a forelimb, but by the time the
cat is presented for veterinary attention, widespread skin lesions have usually developed.
Pulmonary infection and even disseminated systemic infection sometimes occur in cats, typically
with fatal consequences. Cowpox virus, like smallpox, monkeypox and other pathogenic
orthopoxviruses, encodes a unique family of ankyrin repeat-containing proteins that inhibit the
nuclear factor B (NF-B) signaling pathway and so inhibit inflammation at the sites of viral
infection.