Mahendra Pal*

Founder of Narayan Consultancy on Veterinary Public Health and Microbiology, Anand, India

*Corresponding Author: Mahendra Pal, Founder of Narayan Consultancy on Veterinary Public Health and Microbiology, Anand, India.

Received: December 15, 2017; Published: January 02, 2018

DOI: 10.31080/ASMI.2018.01.0008

Citation: Mahendra Pal. “Contagious Ecthyma: An Infectious Emerging Viral Anthropozoonotic Disease”. Acta Scientific Microbiology 1.2 (2018).

  In recent decades, several zoonotic diseases of multiple etiologies have emerged from many regions of the world. These diseases occur in sporadic as well as in epidemic form resulting in high morbidity and mortality in humans as well as in animals. Among these, contagious ecthyma (contagious pustular dermatitis, orf, scabby mouth, sore mouth) is an emerging, highly infectious viral zoonosis, which is important from public health and economic point of view. The outbreaks of disease in sheep are reported from many countries of the world. It is caused by Orf virus (double stranded DNA virus) of genus Parapox virus, and family Poxviridae. The virus is very resistant in the environment as evidenced from its recovery from dried crusts after a period of 12 years. The natural infection is reported in humans as well as in many species of animals, such as alpacas, antelopes, camels, deer, goats, lamas, reindeer, sheep, and wapiti. Human can acquire the infection by direct contact with diseased animals. Indirect transmission may occur through contaminated fomites. The persons who immunize the animals with live vaccine may also be exposed to infection. The virus can enter the skin through abrasions and cuts. Human to human transmission is very rarely noticed. It is an occupational hazard for abattoir workers, livestock handlers, veterinarians, butchers, shepherds, shearers, and goat raisers.

Copyright: © 2018 Mahendra Pal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.