Rinderpest

Rinderpest
• Also known as cattle plague

• An acute, highly contagious disease of cattle caused by Morbilli
virus
• Foremost cause of death in cattle in most of African and asian
countries
• Establishment of first Veterinary college in 1762 in Lyon , France
• Mortality varies from 25-90% depending on the strain and
resistance of the animals
• Rinderpest eradication campaign successfully completed in
Nepal
• Clinically the disease is characterised by high fever,
necrotic stomatitis, diarrhoea and high mortality
• Buffaloes, sheep, pigs, goats and camels are also
susceptible
• In wild life rinderpest has been reported in deer, antelope,
wild buffaloes, wild boars, bushbuck, and giraffe
• The rinderpest virus is antigenically closely related to the
virus of canine distemper, peste des petits ruminants(PPR)
of sheep and goats and measles of human
• Incubation period varies from 6-9 days
Spread
• The rinderpest virus is quite fragile

• Therefore close contact between infected and healthy animals
is necessary for spread of disease
• The virus does not survive for long outside the host
• The virus is excreted by infected animals in urine, faeces, nasal
discharges, saliva, tears and sweat
• Transmission occurs through contaminated feed or by
inhalation of aerosal (infected droplets)
• Ingestion of contaminated food and water by the discharges of
clinical cases or animals in the incubation stage may also be
important mode of infection especially in pigs
Pathogenesis
• The virus is inhaled in infected droplets
• It penetrates through the epithelium of upper
respiratory tract and multiplies in the tonsils and
regional lymph nodes
• It enters blood in mononuclear cells which
disseminate the virus to other lymphoid organs, the
lungs, and epithelial cells of mucous membranes
• The virus has high degree of affinity for lymphoid
tissue and alimentary mucosa
• There is a pronounced destruction of
lymphocytes in tissues with pyknosis and
fragmentation of nucleus and germinal centers
devoid of lymphocytes
• This is the cause of marked leukopenia
• The focal necrotic stomatitis and enteritis are the
direct result of the viral infection and replication
• Death is usually from severe dehydration
Signs
• Rise in temperature(104-105⁰F) accompanied
by restlessness, dryness of the muzzle and
constipation
• Photophobia(intolerance to light), excessive
thirst, shining coat, retarded rumination,
anorexia, and excessive salivation
• Fever usually reaches peak on the 3rd or 5th day
but drops abruptly with the onset of diarrhoea
• Lesions in oral mucosa appear by 2nd or 3rd day
of fever but become clearly visible after onset
of diarrhoea
• Abdominal pain, arched back, increased
respiration, severe dehydration and
emaciation followed by prostration ,
subnormal temperature and death(6-12 days)
Lesions
• The virus has a particular affinity for epithelial tissues of
the gastrointestinal tract
• In lymphoid tissue the virus causes necrosis of lymphocytes
• Striking in microscopic sections of lymph nodes, spleen and
payers patches
• Multinucleated giant cells containing eosinophillic
cytoplasmic inclusion bodies are present
• Grossly changes are most marked in the Peyer’s patches –
haemorrhages, slaughing leaving deep craters(ulcers) in
intestinal wall
• In cattle- the virus carried to oral mucosa by blood
stream and causes necrosis of epithelial cells stratum
malpighii
• These cells have pyknotic and fragmented nuclei with
eosinophillic cytoplasm
• The necrotic areas increase in size and multinucleated
giant cells form in the stratum spinosusm
• Eosinophillic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies form in the
mucosal epithelial cells and giant cells
• Vesicles are not formed in this disease
• With time the foci of necrosis coalesce to form large
areas of erosions
• The erosions are shallow with a red raw floor and a
sharply demarcated margin
• The lesion in oral mucosa have selective distribution:
inside the lower lip, the adjacent gum, the cheeks near
commissures and the ventral surface of the free
portion of the tongue
• In severe cases lesions extend to the hard palate and
pharynx, in fulminant cases to all surface of the tongue
• The abomasum is the most common sites of the lesions
of rinderpest
• They are most severe in pyloric region where necrotic
foci of microscopic size in the epithelium with congestion
and haemorrhages in underlying lamina propria
• Grossly irregular superficial bright red to dark brown
streaks extending into fundus and becomes more
numerous and diffuse in pylorus
• In small intestine payer’s patches are affected, necrotic
and slough out leaving deep crater in the intestinal wall
• The large intestine is more seriously damaged than the
small intestine with prominent lesion in ileocaecal valve,
caeco-colic junction and the rectum
• The crest of folds of mucous membrane throughout the
caecum is bright red due to petechiae
• Streaks of congestion along the folds of mucosa of rectum
produce a characteristic “ zebra – striped” (zebra marking)
• As the disease progresses the mucosa becomes eroded,
diffuse congestion and bleeding from the raw surfaces
occur in large areas
• Lesions in caecocolic junction include congestion,
erosion and increased thickness of the wall due
to oedema of the submucosa and muscularis
• The changes in colon and rectum vary from a few
longitudinal streaks of congestion along the crest
of the folds of the mucosa to erosions of mucosal
epithelium
• The streaks and congestion and haemorrhages
are more common in the rectum than colon
• In respiratory system, petechiae occur on the mucosa
of upper respiratory tract in the larynx and trachea
• In trachea streaks of haemorrhages in the mucosa are
almost always found
• Common in anterior third of trachea
• The lungs involve only secondarily.
• In long standing cases lesions include both interstitial
and alveolar emphysema and small areas of
consolidation
• In the urinary bladder the epithelium may be
desquamated and underlying stroma
infiltrated with erythrocytes
• Acute congestion and edema of conjunctiva
followed by purulent conjunctivitis
Diagnosis
• AGID
• CFT
• Virus isolation on tissue cultures
• Virus neutralisation
• Counter immuno electrophoresis
• Immunofluorescence
• Immmunoperoxidase test
• ELISA
• PCR

Rinderpest

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Rinderpest

• Also known as cattle plague

• The rinderpest virus is quite fragile

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