Seven captive eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) from a large collection of North American chelonians in North Carolina became acutely ill in the fall of 2002. Five of the turtles died. Clinical signs included cutaneous abscessation, oral ulceration or abscessation (or both), respiratory distress, anorexia, and lethargy. The predominant postmortem lesion was fibrinoid vasculitis of various organs, including skin, mucous membranes, lungs, and liver. No inclusion bodies were detected by histopathology or electron microscopy of formalin-fixed tissue. An iridovirus was isolated from tissues obtained postmortem from two of the box turtles that died. The virus was characterized by electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction, and sequence analysis of a portion of the major capsid protein as a member of the genus Ranavirus.
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1 December 2004
RANAVIRUS-ASSOCIATED MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY IN A GROUP OF CAPTIVE EASTERN BOX TURTLES (TERRAPENE CAROLINA CAROLINA)
Ryan De Voe,
Kyleigh Geissler,
Susan Elmore,
David Rotstein,
Greg Lewbart,
James Guy
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Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
Vol. 35 • No. 4
December 2004
Vol. 35 • No. 4
December 2004
Eastern box turtle
iridovirus
ranavirus
Terrapene carolina carolina
vasculitis