Various forms of parapoxvirus, which is have a unique spiral coat can be fatal in young sheep, goats and cattle, cause proliferative dermatitis in the mouth, teats and skin of those animals. Forms have also been known to infect farmers and people who care for animals.
A new type of parapoxvirus, similar to a virus found in cows, is believed produced inflamed,
slow-to-heal hard nodules on the human fingers.
At least two cases has identified the virus from freshly-hunted deer on the fingers of the hunters who field-dressed them.
According to Dr. Inger Damon from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the first time they can definitely say this is a deer-associated parapoxvirus affecting humans, and the lesions can sometimes be confused with those caused by cutaneous anthrax.
In both cases of reported in the December 30th New England Journal of Medicine, the white-tailed deer were shoot in November 2008 and appeared to be healthy.
In the first case, a 52-year-old wildlife biologist hunting in Virginia gradually developed a violaceous nodule on his right index finger after getting a cut while cleaning the deer. The cut would not heal. Doctors removed the nodule but it grew back at the edge of the excised area. It was reexcised and the area healed over the next eight weeks.
In the second case, a 60-year-old Connecticut hunter had a 1 cm nodule and short-duration fever.
The CDC received specimens of the lesions within one week of each other.
In DNA analysis, it confirms that parapoxvirus was responsible for the lesions in both men. Oral virus particles were seen with electron microscopy, which was on telltale sign.
Dr. Damon suspects there are many more cases out there and urged hunters to carry hand sanitizer for use if they are cut.
She said, “These are under-reported in general. People only seek medical attention if is’s painful, or if they’re unfamiliar it with, or because of the nonhealing aspect of it.”
But the following fall, when researchers tried to find deer, and even some barnyard animals, infected with this parapoxvirus, they came up empty handed.
Dr. Damon said, “We may no have looked during the right period of time, or a long enough period of time. But we suspect it’s still there.”
For patients with complicated infections or underlying health conditions, she and her colleagues say anecdotal data suggest that imiquimod might help avoid surgical debridement.
This information is taken from- http://www.greenliveforever.com/skin-care/type-parapoxvirus-deer-animal-leading-skin-nodules
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