A review of three pathology-based techniques for retrospective diagnosis of rinderpest, with comparison to virus isolation.

ABSTRACT

Base of tongue, eyelid, and retropharyngeal lymph node were collected from three animals experimentally infected with rinderpest and utilised in a study comparing virus isolation with histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridisation to determine the usefulness of the latter three techniques as retrospective diagnostic aids for this disease. Virus isolation was positive for all nine samples. Histopathology was suggestive in all the tissues and definitive in some. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation highlighted the presence of rinderpest antigen of rinderpest nucleic acid in all of the sections. However, in situ hybridisation was more specific than immunohistochemistry.