Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences 2 (4): 239 – 241 http://dx.doi.org/10.14737/journal.aavs/2014/2.4.239.241 Kachhawaha et al (2014). Therapeutic Management of Camel Pox 239 ISSN: 2307 – 8316 (Online); ISSN: 2309 – 3331 (Print) Case Report Subhash Kachhawaha , Mukesh Srivastava*, Jai Prakash Kachhawa, Mahendra Tanwar, Ankita Sharma, Naveen Kumar Singh, Kapil Kachwaha, Shravan Singh Rathore, Ram Kishan Tanwar College of Veterinary and Animal Science, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author: drmukeshvetmed@rediffmail.com ARTICLE HISTORY ABSTRACT Received: Revised: Accepted: 2014– 04– 03 2014– 04– 11 2014– 04– 12 A camel presented with history of fever, inappetence and development of scab on many part of body along with blindness since more than one week. History revealed suffering of many camels with similar symptom in that area. Clinical examination showed the different stages of pox lesion in the mouth, face, neck, abdominal, thigh region along with lacrimation, corneal opacity in both eyes and enlargement of mandibular lymph nodes. Camel was treated by antibiotic, anti–inflammatory and topical therapy. Animal was successfully managed but without any improvement in the blindness. It was concluded awareness of camel owners about separation of diseased and healthy young camels, improved health care including long acting antibiotics, improved hygiene and general supportive treatment will decrease the harmful effects of camel pox. All copyrights reserved to Nexus® academic publishers Key Words: Camel pox, Clinical manifestation, Supportive therapy ARTICLE CITATION: Kachhawaha S, Srivastava M, Kachhawa JP, Tanwar M, Sharma A, Singh NK, Kachwaha K, Rathore, SS, Tanwar RK (2014). Therapeutic management of camel pox– a case report. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2 (4): 239 – 241. Camel pox is a highly contagious, enzootic disease (Duraffour et al, 2011), caused by Orthopoxvirus cameli virus of poxviridae family, which primarily affects young animals (McGrane and Higgins, 1985). It causes benign to severe generalised pox lesions (Pandey et al., 1985), even death in animals less than two years of age or those animals not previously exposed to infection (Munz, 1992). Higher incidence was seen in male with higher mortality rate in young animals (Kritz, 1982). Recorded mortality rate in adult animals is between 5 to 28%, while in young animals it varies from 25% to 100% (Mayer and Czerny, 1990). Clinical manifestations of camel pox range from inapparent and mild local infections, confined to the skin, to moderate and severe infections leading to swelling of whole head (Meena et al, 2012), however, mostly generalised form seen in camels, where pox lesion covers the entire body. The disease is characterised by fever, salivation, lacrimation, mucopurulent nasal discharge, enlarged lymph nodes, diarrhoea and anorexia in the systemic form of the disease and pathgnomonic skin lesions, which appears 1–3 days after the onset of fever. Skin lesions first appear on the head, eyelids, nostrils, margins of the ears and begin as erythematous macules, developing into papules and vesicles, which later on turn to pustules and crusts. In later stage, skin lesions may extend to the neck, limbs, genitalia, mammary glands and perineum. Death is usually due to secondary infections and septicaemia (Wernery and Kaaden, 2002). This variation in clinical manifestation possibly reflects differences between the strains of camel pox (Wernery and Kaaden, 2002). Clinical signs of infected animals are often indistinguishable from lesions caused by parapox (Contagious ecthyma), however, simultaneous infections with both orthopox and parapox viruses have also been described (Renner–Muller et al, 1995; Wernery and Kaaden, 1995). Transmission is by either direct contact between infected and susceptible animals or indirect infection via a contaminated environment. The role of insects in the transmission has been suspected because the disease is often observed after rainfall (Wernery et al,, 1997). Although camel pox virus is very host specific but field reports of mild skin lesions in humans associated with camel pox have been made by Coetzer (2004), underlining that camelpox can be of public health importance (Bera et al, 2011). Present communication reports the clinical manifestation and management of camel pox. A four years old male camel presented to the Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex (TVCC), CVAS, Bikaner in the month of September (rainy season), with history of fever, inappetence and development of pustule followed by scab along with blindness since more than one week. History revealed suffering of many camels with similar symptom in that area. Clinical examination showed the different stage of Therapeutic Management of Camel Pox – A Case report Figure 1: Maggot wound and corneal opacity in camel pox affected animal