Abstract
The lesions of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) were studied in arteries, choroid plexus, and renal glomeruli of spontaneously affected and experimentally-infected deer by light microscopy, electron microscopy, and immunofluorescence microscopy. Serum beta and gamma globulin levels were quantitated and compared to those of normal deer. Microscopic lesions were detected in vessels of many tissues, with kidneys, pancreas, lymph nodes and testes being most frequently involved. The arterial lesions consisted of segmental degenerative, necrotizing, and exudative inflammatory changes in the walls of affected arteries and arterioles. The lesions in choroid plexus and renal glomeruli were of an exudative inflammatory nature. Ultrastructural lesions paralleled those observable by light microscopy, with the significant exception of the presence of numerous viral particles apparently replicating in endothelial cells of affected arteries, choroid plexus, and renal glomeruli. These particles were also present in epithelial cells of the choroid plexus and in epithelial cells of the renal glomeruli. The viral particles were considered to belong to the Togavirus family on the basis of size, morphology, and apparent mode of replication. Immunofluorescence revealed an antigen common to all affected deer in endothelial cells and in the walls of affected vessels, as well as in renal glomeruli. Gamma globulin was also demonstrated by immunofluorescence in the same areas. Fibrin (or fibrinogen) was present in fewer locations, and was distributed in a somewhat different (random) pattern. The results of this study suggest that MCF in deer is caused by a virus which is morphologically similar to the togaviruses, and that humoral immune mechanisms participate in the development of the vascular lesions, probably as an immune complex vasculitis.
Clark, Keith Allen (1975). A study of the vascular lesions of malignant catarrhal fever in deer by histopathology, electron microscopy, and immunofluorescence. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -441432.