Milker's nodule is a harmless skin lesion that's caused by the paravaccinia virus (also called pseudocowpox virus), which is a member of the genus Parapoxviridae. It occurs worldwide, but it is prevalent only in individuals who are in close contact with cattle. We report here on a woman who presented with a dusky purpuric center surrounded by a white or gray ring and an outer red halo on the back of the right hand. Histologically, intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were evident in the upper epidermis, and these revealed cylindrical virus particles on electron microscopy. Parapoxvirus was identified by polymerase chain reaction with using pan-parapoxvirus primer 1 (PPP-1) and PPP-4.
Animals ; Cattle ; Epidermis ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Inclusion Bodies ; Microscopy, Electron ; Parapoxvirus ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pseudocowpox virus ; Skin ; Virion

Haemophilus influenzae is one of the main pathogens of encephalitis in children less than 5 years old. The rate of ampicillin resistant strain is not high. No beta-lactamase-producing and ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) isolates were found. The PFGE patterns of Hib isolates were highly divergent, but most could be classified into three groups (A, B and C). Hib isolates from the CSF of patients and from nasopharynges of household contacts showed the same PFGE patterns. This observation suggested that household contacts of patients are a possible reservoir of Hib.
Haemophilus influenzae type b ; Orf virus ; Diagnosis

Contagious ecthyma (also known as orf) is an acute skin zoonosis caused by orf virus (ORFV), which affects sheep, goats and humans. As one of the typical species of the Parapoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family, orf virus has distinctive and unique characteristics of these species. A range of immuno-modulatory/pathogenesis -related genes acquired by virus that function is to limit (at least transiently) the effectiveness of host immunity during its evolution. This review is aimed to describe the latest progress on the molecular characteristics of ORFV, and upon which we analyzed molecular mechanism of the immune escape designed and a set of strategies developed for ORFV to effective against immune clearance of the host. Known as an essential component in evolutionary system, host is regulated by ORFV for using in population evolution. By the ORFV evolutional immune regulation components and its effect approach, we can understand the viral biological characteristics of ORFV, and it is helpful for us to further study the counter-measures of this disease.
Animals ; Ecthyma, Contagious ; immunology ; virology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral ; Immune Evasion ; Orf virus ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Proteins ; genetics ; immunology

In order to compete the antiviral effects of the host cell in the process of infection, ORFV(known as Orf virus) relies on a series of functional genes developed through long-term population evolution, such as interferon resistance genes, Bcl-2 protein genes and cell cycle inhibitor gene and so on, with these weapons this virus is able to effectively counteract immune clearance and immune regulation from a host cell. Concurrently, ORFV also focuses on exploiting signal transduction pathways of the ubiquitin-proteasome system(UPS), circumvents the intracellular signal transduction and CD8+ T activation, for shielding virus particles towards maturation and releasing outside. This review introduced inner link between the UPS of host cell and intervention mechanism by virus, and analyzed the key roles of certains components in UPS, these all together showed the evolution tendency of ORFV that was involved in the designing of inhibition to immune response and for intracellular immune escape upon the selection pressure in host cell infected.
Animals ; Ecthyma, Contagious ; enzymology ; virology ; Host-Pathogen Interactions ; Humans ; Orf virus ; genetics ; physiology ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; metabolism ; Ubiquitin ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo construct a universal, highly attenuated orf virus expression vector for exogenous genes using green fluorescent protein (GFP) as the reporter gene.

METHODSThe flanking regions of the ORFV132 of orf virus DNA were amplified by PCR to construct the shuttle plasmid pSPV-132LF-EGFP-132RF. The shuttle plasmid was transfected into OFTu cells and GFP was incorporated into orf virus IA82Delta 121 by homologous recombination. The recombinant IA82Delta121-V was selected by green fluorescent signal. The deletion gene was identified by PCR and sequencing. The effects of ORFV132 knockout were evaluated by virus titration and by observing the proliferation of the infected vascular endothelial cells in vitro.

RESULTSThe recombinant orf virus IA82Delta121-V was obtained successfully and quickly, and the deletion of ORFV132 did not affect the replication of the virus in vitro but reduced its virulence.

CONCLUSIONGreen fluorescent protein is a selectable marker for rapid, convenient and stable selection of the recombinant viruses. Highly attenuated recombinant orf virus IA82Delta121-V can serve as a new expression vector for exogenous genes.

Cells, Cultured ; Endothelial Cells ; metabolism ; Gene Deletion ; Genes, Reporter ; Genetic Vectors ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Orf virus ; Plasmids ; Transfection

Five cases of orf virus infection in Korean black goats were diagnosed in our laboratory between 2010 and 2011. One orf virus (ORF/2011) was isolated from an ovine testis cell line (OA3.Ts) for use as a vaccine candidate. Sequences of the major envelope protein and orf virus interferon resistance genes were determined and compared with published reference sequences. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that orf viruses from Korean black goats were most closely related to an isolate (ORF/09/Korea) from dairy goats in Korea. This result indicates that the orf viruses might have been introduced from dairy goats into the Korean black goat population.
Animals ; Ecthyma, Contagious/epidemiology/*virology ; Goat Diseases/*epidemiology/virology ; Goats ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Orf virus/*genetics/isolation & purification/metabolism ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Sequence Analysis, DNA/veterinary ; Sequence Homology

This study is to establish a cell-based pharmacological model targeting HIV-1 replication for compounds screening and to screen compounds randomly selected from compounds library by using this pseudotyped viral system. The cell-based HIV-1 replication pharmacological model was set up by HIV-1 core packed with vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein. The level of HIV-1 replication was presented by reporter genes expression (luciferase activity or percentage of GFP positive cells). When a compound has inhibitory effect on VSVG/HIV model, VSVG/MLV model would be used to test for specificity. Vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein can efficiently mediate HIV core into a wide range of host cells. Expression level of reporter genes showed dose-dependent manner with virion dilution. Among 500 compounds, three compounds dose-dependently inhibit HIV-1 replication, but not MLV replication. VSVG/HIV pseudotyped viral system can be used as a pharmacological model for HIV-1 replication inhibitor screening. Compounds 2-methylthio-5-(4-methylbenzo)amido-l,3,4-thiadiazole, N-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionamide, and N-(4-picolyl)-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide can specifically inhibit HIV-1 replication with IC50 of 1.92, 5.38, and 3.39 micromol L(-1) respectively.
Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; DNA Replication ; drug effects ; Didanosine ; pharmacology ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; Genes, Reporter ; drug effects ; genetics ; HIV-1 ; drug effects ; physiology ; Humans ; Lamivudine ; pharmacology ; Pseudocowpox Virus ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Virus Replication ; drug effects ; Zidovudine ; pharmacology