Intracytoplasmic Inclusions in Circulating Leukocytes from an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) with Iridoviral Infection
American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Conference 2006
Matthew Allender1, DVM, MS; Michael Fry2, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology); Armando R. Irizarry3, DVM, PhD, DACVP; Linden Craig2, DVM, PhD, DACVP; April Johnson4, DVM; Michael Jones5, DVM, DABVP (Avian)
1College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA; 2Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA; 3Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Greenfield, IN, USA; 4College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; 5Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Abstract
A free-ranging adult female eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) was presented to the University of Tennessee in October 2003 because of suspected trauma and blindness. Physical examination revealed lethargy, clear ocular and nasal discharges, and white oral and laryngeal plaques. Intracytoplasmic inclusions within heterophils and large mononuclear leukocytes were observed on routine blood smear examination. Postmortem findings included necrosis of epithelial and parenchymal cells with intracytoplasmic inclusions. Ultrastructurally, the leukocyte inclusions consisted of variably electron-dense granular material and viral particles consistent with the Iridoviridae family of viruses. The virus shares 100% sequence identity to a 420 base pair sequence of frog virus 3 (FV3) (family Iridoviridae, genus Ranavirus) as determined by polymerase chain reaction and gene sequencing targeting a portion of the Ranavirus major capsid protein gene.