Case Report: Contagious Ecthyma - Deviations In The Anatomical Appearance Of Lesions In An Outbreak In Lambs In Israel

Contagious ecthyma (orf) is a highly contagious viral disease of small domestic and wild ruminants usually affecting young animals with economic and zoonotic implications. The disease is characterized by the formation of vesiculo-proliferative lesions on the lips, nostrils and around the eyes, also on the udder of nursing ewes of affected lambs. Rarely the lesions can be seen in the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. In this case 2 lambs of 4 month of age where submitted to the Kimron Veterinary Institute for post mortem examination. This report describes findings of proliferations consistent with orf found on gingival mucosa and ruminal epithelium which are relatively rare, however without external lesions. The diagnosis of ecthyma was confirmed by PCR.