Simultaneous infections lambs with contagious ecthyma and sheep pox or contagious ecthyma and papillomatosis

Two outbreaks of contagious ecthyma concurrent with papillomatosis and shee p pox, in two cross-bred sheep herds are described. The outbreaks in herd A caused by contagious ecthyma and papillomatosis resulted in high morbidity and mortality rates (85.7 and 11.9 % respectively) and were characterized by multiple ulcerative or proliferative eruptions in the buccal cavity, che eks, tongue, lips and muzzle. Warts of various sizes occurred on various pa rts of the skin. The outbreak in herd B, caused by contagious ecthyma and s heep pox, resulted in morbidity of 78 %, and the mortality rate reached 34 %; the orf lesions appeared four days later. The infections in both herds a ffected only the lambs aged 4 to 8 months. Contagious ecthyma virus was iso lated from lesions on the lips and muzzle, and identified; sheep pox virus was isolated from eruptions on the face and tail. Histologically, intracyto plasmic inclusion bodies typical of poxviruses were observed in these disea ses. Papillomavirus in the warts was demonstrated by electron microscopy.