Morphological characteristics of skin lesions in cattle naturally infected with lumpy skin disease virus in Serbia

Abstract

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a disease of cattle and domestic buffaloes caused by Capripoxvirus which can lead to significant economic losses. Until several years ago it was limited to Africa and the Middle East, but recently it was reported in Turkey (2013), Greece (2015), and in 2016 it spread to Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. The aim of this study was to determine the microscopic lesions in the skin of naturally infected animals, highlight their features and compare them to the findings of other authors. Gross lesions in the skin of cattle infected with Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) were manifested in the form of skin nodules which were round, raised, clearly circumscribed, firm and randomly distributed in the whole skin including the vulva and udder. Histopathological lesions included degeneration of epithelial cells, hyperkeratosis, spongiosis, and acanthosis present in 85.88%, 81.18%, 84.71%, and 80.0% of samples, respectively. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were noted in keratinocytes of the stratum spinosum in 56.47% of samples, and in hair follicle cells and sebaceous glands epithelial cells in 45.88% of samples. Cutaneous lesions were in the form of inflammatory infiltrate present in the dermis and subcutis in 97.65% of samples. Since there are only a few literature data in this field, this study expands the knowledge relating to morphological alterations in LSD. Based on the characteristic microscopic lesions described in the present study, histopathology should be considered as a very useful method for the diagnosis of LSD.