Detection of the Orf Virus in an Outbreak of Glossitis in a Goat Herd

Abdollahi, Mostafa; Najd Ghahremani, Abolfazl; Mohammadi, Hamidreza; Saei, Saba; Ghods, Homayoon

doi:10.22075/jvlr.2026.40815.1211

Detection of the Orf Virus in an Outbreak of Glossitis in a Goat Herd

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mostafa Abdollahi ¹

Abolfazl Najd Ghahremani ²

Hamidreza Mohammadi ³

Saba Saei ⁴

Homayoon Ghods ⁴

¹ Department of clinical sciences, Faculty of veterinary medicine, Semnan university, Semnan, Iran.

² Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

⁴ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

10.22075/jvlr.2026.40815.1211

Abstract

Glossitis is an uncommon initial presentation of contagious ecthyma (Orf) in goats. This report describes an outbreak of glossitis in a herd of 1500 goats in Tehran )Iran(, during August 2022. Among 400 newly introduced goats, 189 (12.6%) developed perioral swelling followed by glossitis (swollen, red to purple tongue protruding from the mouth) without any proliferative lesions in the first three days of disease. Tongue scrapings from 10 affected goats were tested by PCR for Orf virus, bluetongue virus, foot-and-mouth disease virus, and peste des petits ruminants virus. Only Orf virus DNA was detected (392 bp product). Proliferative granulomatous lesions appeared on day 5, and scabs formed by day 15. Mean disease duration was 28 days, and all animals recovered without treatment. Morbidity and case fatality rates were 12.6% and 0%, respectively. To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few reports describing glossitis as an early clinical manifestation preceding classic proliferative Orf lesions in goats. The absence of sequencing is a major limitation in the study. Clinicians should consider Orf in differential diagnosis of acute glossitis in goats, especially in newly introduced animals.

Keywords

Glossitis

Molecular diagnosis

Parapoxvirus

Proliferative lesion

Stomatitis

Subjects