STUDIES OF A DISEASE WITH ULCERATIVE AND NECROTIZING LESIONS IN SWEDISH ROE DEER (CAPREOLUS-CAPREOLUS)

One adult female and three male roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns f ound dead in the wild were necropsied. All animals had numerous erosiv e, ulcerative, and necrotizing lesions of the digestive mucosa. Catarr hal to hemorrhagic enteritis was present in two cases. Microscopic les ions of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, esophagus, and rumen were edematous, and there was swelling and eosinophilia of cells in th e stratum basale and spinosum. In addition, basophilic and eosinophili c intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies appeared in cells of the stratum b asale and spinosum. These lesions affected both sexes and all age clas ses of animals and are suggested to have been caused by an unidentifie d and/or undescribed virus.