Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Archives of Virology (2019) 164:51–61 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-3991-7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Characterization of mule deerpox virus in Florida white‑tailed deer fawns expands the known host and geographic range of this emerging pathogen Katherine A. Sayler 1  · Kuttichantran Subramaniam 2  · Jessica M. Jacob 2  · Julia C. Loeb 3,4  · William F. Craft 5  · Lisa L. Farina 5  · Nicole I. Stacy 6  · Nissin Moussatche 7  · Laurie Cook 8  · John A. Lednicky 3,4  · Samantha M. Wisely 1  · Thomas B. Waltzek 2 Received: 2 January 2018 / Accepted: 6 June 2018 / Published online: 21 September 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Infections caused by mule deerpox virus (MDPV) have been sporadically reported in North American cervids. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns from a farm located in South Central Florida presented with ulcerative and crusting lesions on the coronary band as well as the mucocutaneous tissues of the head. Evaluation of the crusted skin lesions was undertaken using microscopic pathology and molecular techniques. A crusted skin sample was processed for virus isolation in four mammalian cell lines. The resulting isolate was characterized by negative staining electron microscopy and deep sequencing. Histopathologic evaluation of the skin lesions from the fawns revealed a hyperplastic and proliferative epider- mis with ballooning degeneration of epidermal and follicular keratinocytes with intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusions. Electron microscopy of cell culture supernatant demonstrated numerous large brick-shaped particles typical of most poxvi- ruses. Polymerase chain reaction assays followed by Sanger sequencing revealed a poxvirus gene sequence nearly identical to that of previous strains of MDPV. The full genome was recovered by deep sequencing and genetic analyses supported the Florida white-tailed deer isolate (MDPV-F) as a strain of MDPV. Herein, we report the frst genome sequence of MDPV from a farmed white-tailed deer fawn in the South Central Florida, expanding the number of locations and geographic range in which MDPV has been identifed. Introduction The family Poxviridae includes a diverse group of envel- oped, double-stranded DNA viruses infecting a range of invertebrate (subfamily: Entomopoxvirinae) and vertebrate (subfamily: Chordopoxvirinae) hosts [1]. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses currently recognizes Handling Editor: YiMing Shao. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-3991-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Thomas B. Waltzek tbwaltzek@uf.edu 1 Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 2 Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Bldg 1379, Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA 3 Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 4 Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 5 Department of Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 6 Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 7 Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA 8 BDRL Whitetail Paradise Farm, Okeechobee, FL, USA