Canine Distemper in Taiwan from 2000 – 2009: Co-infections and the Use of RT-PCR and Immunohistochemistry to Detect Tissue Involvement in Two Groups of Dogs

Canine distemper virus (CDV) causes a highly contagious disease, which has been reported in Taiwan for many years; however phylogenetic analysis of field CDV, histopathological lesions, and co-infection are poorly understood. The goals of this study were to characterize the pathology of CDV in dogs in Taiwan, and to assess the frequency of CNS demyelination in cases of CDV infection confirmed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and/or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Fifty two (IHC or RT-PCR positive) affected dogs were obtained from either animal clinics or dog shelters from 2000 to 2009. Postmortem and laboratory examination included gross findings, histopathology, Luxol-fast blue cresyl echt violet (LFB-CEV) histochemistry, non-biotin HRP anti-CDV IHC, and phosphoprotein gene RT-PCR. Thirty two (32) dogs were submitted from clinic. Twenty (20) dogs were submitted from shelCanine Distemper in Taiwan from 2000 – 2009: Co-infections and the Use of RT-PCR and Immunohistochemistry to Detect Tissue Involvement in Two Groups of Dogs Chung-Tiang Liang, DVM, MS1,2 Ling-Ling Chueh, DVM, PhD 2 Cory Brayton, DVM, Dipl., ACLAM and ACVP3 Victor Fei Pang, DVM, PhD 2 Shiann-Ching Wu, DVM, MS1 Szu-Wei Huang, DVM, MS1 San-Chi Liang, DVM, PhD1 Chun-Keung Yu, DVM, PhD1 Chin-Cheng Lee, MD, PhD4 Chen-Hsuan Liu, DVM, PhD2 1.National Laboratory Animal Center, National Applied Research Laboratories, Nan-Kang, Taipei Taiwan 115 2. Department and Graduate Institute of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan 106 3. Phenotyping Core, Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA 4. Shin Kong Wu-Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei Taiwan111.