Ulcerative facial and nasal dermatitis and stomatitis in cats associated with feline herpesvirus 1

Ulcerative dermatitis of the nasal planum or haired skin of the face, assoc iated with intranuclear inclusion bodies compatible with herpesvirus, was i dentified in nine cats. Clinically, lesions were ulcerative and crusted, an d often persistent. A tenth cat had focal proliferative ulcerative stomatit is, also associated with intranuclear inclusion bodies. Microscopically, th ere was necrosis and ulceration associated with prominent eosinophilic infl ammation. Intranuclear inclusion bodies were noted in all cases, within the surface or adnexal epithelium. Ultrastructural examination of skin from tw o cats revealed virions morphologically compatible with a herpesvirus. Poly merase chain reaction (PCR) specific for feline herpesvirus 1 on DNA extrac ted from fresh-frozen or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy samples an d/or consensus primer PCR with DNA sequencing performed on DNA extracted fr om formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy samples from seven cats revealed that the virus was indistinguishable from feline herpesvirus 1. PCR was ne gative in one of eight cats tested.