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US researchers report 2 cases of novel poxvirus infection
News Scan for Oct 10, 2014
Researchers reported yesterday infections with a new poxvirus in two patients from Tennessee and Missouri who had contact with horses and donkeys.
Writing in Clinical Infectious Diseases, investigators from the CDC and Tennessee said the first patient was a 17-year-old girl from eastern Tennessee who in late 2012 developed itchy, painful lesions on her face and temple that did not respond to antibiotics. Physicians suspected a poxvirus and sent samples to the CDC.
The lesions were eventually excised or treated with cryotherapy.
The girl owned and cared for horses, but none had mucous membrane or skin lesions. She was taking immonsuppressive drugs following heart-transplant surgery 5 years earlier.
The second patient was a 28-year-old woman from western Missouri who had traveled to Tanzania on a mission trip and cared for donkeys there. In March 2013 she sustained a rope burn on her hand and shortly afterward retrieved a donkey from a water hole and submerged her hands in murky water. She also noted that some of the donkeys she cared for had wounds on their withers and legs.
After returning to the United States she developed a papule in the area of the rope burn that later progressed to a nodule. A dermatologist excised the legion and sent samples to the CDC. The woman owned a cat, dog, and horse, but none of them had visible lesions.
The researchers wrote, "Specimens from both human cases revealed a novel poxvirus. The agent shares 88% similarity to viruses in the Parapoxvirus genus and 78% to those in the Molluscipoxvirus genus but is sufficiently divergent to resist classification as either."
All animal and environmental samples from the patients' residences tested negative for poxvirus. The authors say the source is likely zoonotic in both cases. Both patients recovered completely.
Oct 9 Clin Infect Dis abstract
News Scan for Oct 10, 2014
Researchers reported yesterday infections with a new poxvirus in two patients from Tennessee and Missouri who had contact with horses and donkeys.
Writing in Clinical Infectious Diseases, investigators from the CDC and Tennessee said the first patient was a 17-year-old girl from eastern Tennessee who in late 2012 developed itchy, painful lesions on her face and temple that did not respond to antibiotics. Physicians suspected a poxvirus and sent samples to the CDC.
The lesions were eventually excised or treated with cryotherapy.
The girl owned and cared for horses, but none had mucous membrane or skin lesions. She was taking immonsuppressive drugs following heart-transplant surgery 5 years earlier.
The second patient was a 28-year-old woman from western Missouri who had traveled to Tanzania on a mission trip and cared for donkeys there. In March 2013 she sustained a rope burn on her hand and shortly afterward retrieved a donkey from a water hole and submerged her hands in murky water. She also noted that some of the donkeys she cared for had wounds on their withers and legs.
After returning to the United States she developed a papule in the area of the rope burn that later progressed to a nodule. A dermatologist excised the legion and sent samples to the CDC. The woman owned a cat, dog, and horse, but none of them had visible lesions.
The researchers wrote, "Specimens from both human cases revealed a novel poxvirus. The agent shares 88% similarity to viruses in the Parapoxvirus genus and 78% to those in the Molluscipoxvirus genus but is sufficiently divergent to resist classification as either."
All animal and environmental samples from the patients' residences tested negative for poxvirus. The authors say the source is likely zoonotic in both cases. Both patients recovered completely.
Oct 9 Clin Infect Dis abstract