Immunohistochemical identification of antigens of canine distemper virus in neotropical felids from Southern Brazil.

The pathologic and immunohistochemical findings associated with infections due to canine distemper virus (CDV) are described in the cougar (Puma concolor), margay (Leopardus wiedii) and jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) from Southern Brazil. Tissue sections of the neotropical felids (n = 3) that died at the Bela Vista Sanctuary, Parana, Southern Brazil were routinely processed for histopathology to identify possible histopathologic patterns associated with infections due to CDV. Selected formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue sections of the lungs and urinary bladder were used in immunohistochemical assays designed to identify the antigens of CDV. The main histopathologic patterns identified were interstitial pneumonia in the margay and jaguarundi, while ballooning degeneration of the transitional epithelium of the urinary bladder was observed in the cougar. Positive immunoreactivity to antigens of CDV was identified within intralesional sections of the lungs of the two wild felids with interstitial pneumonia and in the degenerated urothelium of the cougar. These findings indicate that these neotropical cats were infected by a viral infectious disease pathogen common to the domestic dog and add to the few documented descriptions of CDV-induced infections in wildlife from Brazil.