For over 200 years, the name molluscum contagiosum-a dermatological disease-has unfairly associated molluscs (the second largest group of animals on the planet) with this highly contagious infectious disease. Herein, arguments are presented demonstrating the serious problem of continuing to use this name, including animal welfare concerns. Thus, to minimize any unnecessary impacts on the biodiversity and conservation of molluscs, we follow WHO best practices in naming diseases to suggest the use of the new term \'wpox\' or \'water warts\' as a synonym for molluscum contagiosum.

In the present study, we describe a natural outbreak of carp edema virus disease (CEVD) in koi carp, concentrating on clinical manifestation, gross and microscopic pathology, immunological parameters, viral diagnostics, and phylogenetic analysis. Examination of white blood cell parameters showed increased monocyte and decreased lymphocyte counts in CEV-affected fish compared to healthy control fish. Regarding immune system functioning, the present work shows, for the first time, enhanced phagocytic activity in CEV-affected fish. Respiratory burst of phagocytes was strongly increased in diseased fish, the increase being attributed to an increased phagocyte count rather than enhancement of their metabolic activity. The present work also newly shows histopathological changes in the pancreatic tissue of diseased koi.

Understanding disease aetiology and pathologic mechanisms is essential for fish health evaluation. Carp edema virus (CEV) is the causative agent of a disease (CEVD) responsible for high mortality rates in both wild and cultured common carp Cyprinus carpio. Inspection of two carp specimens from a pond with high fish mortality revealed CEV infection in both the host and its ectoparasite (Argulus foliaceus). In addition to flavobacteria, well known to be associated with gill lesions, we found that free-living eukaryotes (amoebae and ciliates) and a temporary parasite (Ichthyobodo spp.) colonizing the gills may also contribute to alterations in gill structure and/or function, either directly, through firm (Ichthyobodo) or weak (amoebae) attachment of trophozoites to the gill epithelium, or indirectly, through carriage of pathogenic bacteria. Bacterial assemblages rich in families and genera, with predominance of Cetobacterium spp. in low-intensity alteration of the gill tissue and of Flavobacterium spp. in gills with extensive necrotic lesions, were detected in gills and within the cytoplasm of associated amoebae using high-throughput sequencing. Quantitative PCR indicated F. swingsii as the prevailing flavobacterial species within amoebae from less affected gills and F. psychrophilum within amoebae from extensively affected gills. This case study suggests that eukaryotic organisms as part of the gill pathobiome may also contribute to irreversible gill lesions seen in CEVD. Emphasizing the complexity of mutual relationships between bacterial assemblages and eukaryotic co-pathogens, further studies regarding factors that trigger pathology and influence severity in the CEV-positive carp are needed.

Proteins harbor domains or short linear motifs, which facilitate their functions and interactions. Finding functional motifs in protein sequences could predict the putative cellular roles or characteristics of hypothetical proteins. In this study, we present Shetti-Motif, which is an interactive tool to (i) map UniProt and PROSITE flat files, (ii) search for multiple pre-defined consensus patterns or experimentally validated functional motifs in large datasets protein sequences (proteome-wide), (iii) search for motifs containing repeated residues (low-complexity regions, e.g., Leu-, SR-, PEST-rich motifs, etc.). As proof of principle, using this comparative proteomics pipeline, eleven proteomes encoded by member of Poxviridae family were searched against about 100 experimentally validated functional motifs. The closely related viruses and viruses infect the same host cells (e.g. vaccinia and variola viruses) show similar motif-containing proteins profile. The motifs encoded by these viruses are correlated, which explains why poxviruses are able to interact with wide range of host cells. In conclusion, this in silico analysis is useful to establish a dataset(s) or potential proteins for further investigation or compare between species.

Outbreaks of buffalopox affect udder and teats, which may ultimately lead to mastitis in dairy buffalo and can significantly compromise the production. In this study, we report isolation of buffalo poxvirus and sequence analysis of the B5R gene collected from the buffalo clinically suspected to be poxvirus infected. The virus was isolated on BHK-21 cell line and was passaged for 50 times, B5R gene was amplified and sequenced using gene-specific primers, and analyzed at both nucleotide and amino acid levels. Phylogenetically, the isolate can be classified close to the previously reported Pakistani and Indian isolates with certain level of differential clustering patterns. Three significant putative mutations (I2K, N64D, and K111E) were observed in the B5R protein. The K111E was common with previous human isolate from Karachi, Pakistan in 2005. These mutations differed from poxviruses reported from the neighboring countries. Some deletion mutations were observed which were recovered in upcoming passages. The K111E mutation suggests potential to cause zoonotic infection in human all over the country.

BACKGROUND: Childhood immunology has been suggested to play a role in development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) based on the studies of childhood vaccinations, infections, and treatment with antibiotics. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and smallpox vaccinations were gradually phased-out in Denmark for children born between 1965 and 1976, hence allowing the study of subsequent risk of Crohn\'s disease and ulcerative colitis in a unique prospective design.
METHODS: The Copenhagen School Health Records Register contains detailed documentation of vaccination. Among the background cohort of individuals born between 1965 and 1976 (N = 47,622), cases with Crohn\'s disease (n = 218) and ulcerative colitis (n = 256) were identified through linkage to the Danish National Patient Registry. The vaccination status of the cases was compared with that of a subcohort (n = 5741) of the background cohort and analyzed in a case-cohort design.
RESULTS: No difference in risk of IBD was observed between individuals vaccinated and unvaccinated with BCG (hazard ratio = 0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-1.19) or smallpox vaccine (hazard ratio = 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.77-1.32). This was also the case for Crohn\'s disease and ulcerative colitis separately. However, BCG given before 4 months of age may decrease the risk of IBD (hazard ratio = 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.93).
CONCLUSIONS: This prospective long-term case-cohort study shows that BCG and smallpox vaccination do not cause IBD later in life. These findings are important for the etiological understanding of IBD and of clinical importance because BCG is still one of the most commonly used childhood vaccinations, smallpox vaccine has been reintroduced in the U.S. military, and both vaccines may be used as vectors in new vaccines.

BACKGROUND: Eukaryotic Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDV) encode most if not all of the enzymes involved in their DNA replication. It has been inferred that genes for these enzymes were already present in the last common ancestor of the NCLDV. However, the details of the evolution of these genes that bear on the complexity of the putative ancestral NCLDV and on the evolutionary relationships between viruses and their hosts are not well understood.
RESULTS: Phylogenetic analysis of the ATP-dependent and NAD-dependent DNA ligases encoded by the NCLDV reveals an unexpectedly complex evolutionary history. The NAD-dependent ligases are encoded only by a minority of NCLDV (including mimiviruses, some iridoviruses and entomopoxviruses) but phylogenetic analysis clearly indicated that all viral NAD-dependent ligases are monophyletic. Combined with the topology of the NCLDV tree derived by consensus of trees for universally conserved genes suggests that this enzyme was represented in the ancestral NCLDV. Phylogenetic analysis of ATP-dependent ligases that are encoded by chordopoxviruses, most of the phycodnaviruses and Marseillevirus failed to demonstrate monophyly and instead revealed an unexpectedly complex evolutionary trajectory. The ligases of the majority of phycodnaviruses and Marseillevirus seem to have evolved from bacteriophage or bacterial homologs; the ligase of one phycodnavirus, Emiliana huxlei virus, belongs to the eukaryotic DNA ligase I branch; and ligases of chordopoxviruses unequivocally cluster with eukaryotic DNA ligase III.
CONCLUSIONS: Examination of phyletic patterns and phylogenetic analysis of DNA ligases of the NCLDV suggest that the common ancestor of the extant NCLDV encoded an NAD-dependent ligase that most likely was acquired from a bacteriophage at the early stages of evolution of eukaryotes. By contrast, ATP-dependent ligases from different prokaryotic and eukaryotic sources displaced the ancestral NAD-dependent ligase at different stages of subsequent evolution. These findings emphasize complex routes of viral evolution that become apparent through detailed phylogenomic analysis but not necessarily in reconstructions based on phyletic patterns of genes.
METHODS: This article was reviewed by: Patrick Forterre, George V. Shpakovski, and Igor B. Zhulin.

BACKGROUND: Ecthyma contagiosum (orf) is caused by an epitheliotropic parapox virus. It is a zoonosis usually transmitted to humans from affected sheep or goat through direct contact or contaminated fomites.
METHODS: We report a 36-year-old patient with multiple skin lesions on his left hand, first observed 5 days before admission followed by red streaks on the forearm and an erythema on the upper arm 1 day prior to admission. The patient reported that he was working on a sheep farm.
RESULTS: Histopathologic examination showed evidence of a viral infection. Subsequent transmission electron microscopy showed typical parapox virus particles, predominantly in the scaled-off layers of degenerated keratinocytes and monocytes. The results were verified and specified by two newly established polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays and subsequent sequencing of the amplicons: one broadly reacting \'general parapox virus PCR\', and one assay which allows--following sequencing--discrimination between individual orf virus strains.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the multiplicity of the lesions, there was a significant improvement after 2 weeks of treatment. Sequencing showed the uniqueness of this virus compared with previously published strains from other countries.

Poxvirus infection of a domestic cat is reported. The clinical signs consisted of skin lesions only, which healed within two and a half months. Histopathology revealed cytoplasmatic inclusion bodies typical of pox virus infection. Virus particles morphologically related to the genus orthopoxvirus were detectable in the embedded skin tissue and in skin scraping by electron microscopy. No specific lesions were observed in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane inoculated with an extraction from skin scabs of the cat.

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