Veterinary Preventive Medicine-II

SYNONYMS AND INTRODUCTION

Synonyms : Cattle plague

Introduction

• Rinderpest or cattle plague is an acute, highly contagious virus disease, primarily of cattle and to a lesser degree of sheep, goats and wild ruminants.
• In India "Hill Zebu cattle" are more susceptible than "Plain zebu cattle". This disease is characterized by necrosis, and erosions of the mucosa in the respiratory and digestive tracts.
• Early constipation, usually preceded by dehydration and prostration, is followed by diarrhoea.
• Rinderpest is caused by a negative-strand RNA virus of the Morbili virus genus within the family Paramyxoviridae.
• Rinderpest is enzootic in northern equatorial Africa, the Middle East countries. Rinderpest eradicated in India.
• The virus strains are of a single serotype, but represent various pathotypes, i.e. they vary in virulence, pathogenicity.
• The virus is immunologically related to measles, and canine distemper viruses.
• The virus is usually transmitted from sick to susceptible animals in aerosols and normally the contact has to be close because the infectious droplets are large and short-lived.
• Transmission through ingestion of virus contaminated food or water is rare.
• The virus grows in sheep, goats, rabbits, hamster and white mice. It can be grown in chick embryos by intravenous or CAM route.
• Cytopathogenic effect (CPE) is produced by the virus in susceptible cells from cattle, sheep, goats, chick embryos, pigs, hamsters and man.
• Cytopathogenic effect consists of large, well defined multinucleated giant cells known as "syncytia".
• Infected cell cultures have stellate or spindle shaped cells with large fine anastamosing intracellular processes.
• The virus multiplies in the cytoplasm of the host cells like verocells (African green monkey kidney cells).
• Both intra cytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusion bodies are present.