Experimental Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease in White-Tailed Deer Fawns

Abstract

Infection with a newly described endotheliotropic adenovirus was the cause of a 1993 epizootic reminiscent of hemorrhagic disease in California mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus and O. hemionus hemionus). Pulmonary edema and intestinal luminal hemorrhage, or necrotizing stomatitis associated with systemic or localized vasculitis, respectively, were common lesions seen in animals that died during the epizootic. In order to determine if white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) also are susceptible to infection and fatal disease with the deer adenovirus, eight white-tailed deer fawns (4-to 6-mo-old) were inoculated with purified deer adenovirus. Four were inoculated intravenously and four were inoculated through the mucous membranes. Seven days post-inoculation, one of the fawns inoculated intravenously died. Pulmonary edema and hemorrhagic enteropathy were associated with pulmonary and intestinal vasculitis with systemic multiorgan distribution of endotheliotropic adenovirus as demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. Adenovirus was reisolated from lung homogenates of the fawn that died of adenovirus hemorrhagic disease.

Fatal Disseminated Adenovirus Infections in Immunocompromised Patients

“…Endotheliotropic adenoviruses have been associated with an epizootic hemorrhagic disease killing thousands of California mule deer. 2,3 Local and systemic vasculitis were common necropsy findings in these animals. Research using adenovirus as vectors for gene therapy has demonstrated their ability to infect vascular endothelial cells.…”

Evaluation of the Pathogenic Potential of Cervid Adenovirus in Calves

“…Both methods have been used to inoculate deer with no difference in response (virus distribution, clinical signs, and incubation period). [11][12][13] Therefore, the slight difference in the additional inoculation sites does not change the conclusion that calves do not become infected with and shed OdAdV when infected through natural means of exposure to the cervid adenovirus.…”

“…The antibody titers elicited in the colostrum-deprived calves were relatively low compared with experimentally inocu-lated deer, despite a much higher viral inoculation titer in the calves. 13 Negative virus isolation and immunohistochemistry test results suggest that virus replication did not occur and that the low antibody response in these calves resulted from the virus inoculum in the lung (antigenic load).…”

“…Infected animals develop systemic vasculitis resulting in pulmonary edema and/or hemorrhagic enteropathy (systemic infection), necrotizing lesions confined to the upper alimentary tract (localized infection), or both. 1,[11][12][13][14] This novel adenovirus is a distinct member of the Atadenovirus genus of the Adenoviridae family but is closely related antigenically to ovine adenovirus type 7 (OAdV-7), goat adenovirus type 1 (GAdV-1), and bovine adenovirus type 7 (BAdV-7). 5,15 Although OdAdV has never been identified as the cause of death in any traditional domestic livestock species, it is important to rule out the possibility of OdAdV clinical and subclinical infection in livestock.…”

<b>Comparative pathology of Neotropical deer:</b> morphological and immunohistochemical evaluation

“…It is important to notice there are no studies on the pathogenesis of this disease in deer available in the literature after the 90's. FABER, 1996;WOODS et al, 1999;WOODS et al, 2001;O'TOOLE et al, 2002;DUBEY et al, 2004).…”