Coxsackievirus B4 myocarditis in an orangutan

A 37-year-old female orangutan died at the zoological garden. Autopsy exami nation demonstrated severe coxsackievirus B4 myocarditis immunohistochemica lly as a cause of the death. Apoptosis of the cardiac muscle cells was obse rved using the TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick endo labeling method and was c onsidered to play a role in the myocarditis. Congestion of the liver and bo th lungs due to cardiac failure was also observed. Coxsackievirus infection is found frequently in the Okinawan human population. The present oranguta n's infection might have come from visitors who were allowed to go near the orangutan. Malignant tumors, severe suppurative infections, and intestinal parasite infections were not observed. Epstein-Barr virus DNA was detected in lymph nodes, but there was no Burkitt's lymphoma.