ETIDIOH - NEW

  A horse in Jönköping County and one in Norrbotten County , both of which had blisters and sores on the skin on their legs, were found to be infected with a smallpox virus called equine parapoxvirus or horse parapoxvirus . It is an infection that has not previously been detected in the country . The equine parapoxvirus was detected in our neighboring country Finland for the first time in 2021 . The State Veterinary Institute, SVA, has performed DNA analysis of the virus in the Swedish cases and it turned out to be the same type as in Finland. The virus has caused outbreaks in several Finnish stables with severe skin inflammation on the horses' legs, so-called mug or rasp. The typical symptom of parapoxvirus is small blisters (pox) that burst into round sores. The virus is transmitted by direct contact but also via equipment, clothing, hands and objects. Sick horses should be kept isolated from other horses. Use disposable gloves and special clothing when handling.    – T...

  Abstract Orf virus (ORFV), the prototype species of the Parapoxvirus genus within the Poxviridae family (subfamily Chordopoxvirinae), is a global pathogen infecting sheep, goats , and other ruminants , with zoonotic potential for humans . In this study, an outbreak of ORFV infection occurred in a sheep flock in Changling County, Jilin province, China , causing papules, pustules, and crusting lesions on the lips and eyelids. Typical parapoxvirus particles were observed using electron microscopy, and a wild ORFV strain was isolated, characterized, and designated as ORFV-CL24 . To clarify the epidemiological and genomic characteristics of ORFV in the region, we completed its whole-genome sequencing (GenBank accession number: PV126639). Genome analysis revealed that ORFV-CL24 shares a conserved structure with other isolates available in GenBank, which possess a complete genomic sequence of 138,500 bp of dsDNA harboring 131 putative open reading frames (ORFs) flanked by inverted termi...