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Title: ADENOVIRAL INFECTION IN CAPTIVE MOOSE (ALCES ALCES) IN CANADA

Author
item SHILTON, CATHERINE - UNIV. OF GUELPH, CANADA
item SMITH, DALE - UNIV. OF GUELPH, CANADA
item WOODS, LESLIE - CALIF. AN. HEALTH, DAVIS
item CRAWSHAW, GRAHAM - TORONTO ZOO, CANADA
item Lehmkuhl, Howard

Submitted to: Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2002
Publication Date: 6/20/2002
Citation: SHILTON, C.M., SMITH, D.A., WOODS, L.W., CRAWSHAW, G.J., LEHMKUHL, H.D. ADENOVIRAL INFECTION IN CAPTIVE MOOSE (ALCES ALCES) IN CANADA. JOURNAL OF ZOO AND WILDLIFE MEDICINE. 2002. v. 33(1). p. 73-79.

Interpretive Summary: An adenovirus infection was associated with hemorrhagic enteritis, serosal hemorrhages, and severe pulmonary edema in captive moose. In this study, we describe the occurrence of the disease and lesions and characterize the adenovirus isolated from this case. The disease and lesions were similar to that described in deer, and the virus isolate was neutralized by antibody to the deer adenovirus. The adenovirus in moose reported here ma have been endemic in the captive moose herd, or may have come from either direct or indirect contact with other species of captive or wild cervids. This is the first report of adenoviral infection in moose and of the presence of adenoviral disease in a cervid in Canada.

Technical Abstract: Adenoviral infection was associated with hemorrhagic enteritis, serosal hemorrhages, and severe pulmonary edema in six captive moose (Alces alces) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: an adult female moose and three calves in 1985 and two calves in 1998. Diagnosis was suspected based on histological findings of systemic vasculitis and widespread thrombosis associated with amphophilic intranuclear inclusions in endothelial cells. Diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemistry using antiserum to bovine adenovirus type 5 and transmission electron microscopy of viral particles consistent in morphology with adenovirus, within nuclei of pulmonary endothelial cells in an affected calf. The restriction pattern of virus isolated from the lung of one of the calves indicated that the virus was the same as that recently characterized in black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in California. The adenovirus in moose reported here may have been endemic in the captive moose herd, or may have come from either direct or indirect contact with other species of captive or wild cervids. This is the first report of adenoviral infection in moose and of the presence of adenoviral disease in a cervid in Canada.