By David Beasley
ATLANTA, April 12 (Reuters) – People can contract skin
lesions from goats and sheep infected with the Orf virus through
household meat preparation or when slaughtering the animals, a
federal agency said on Thu rsday in a report aimed at doctors in
ethnically diverse communities.
The Orf virus – sometimes misdiagnosed as a more serious
disease such as anthrax – is most commonly transmitted to humans
on farms. It has also been reported in children who visited
petting zoos and livestock fairs, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said.
But the CDC said people could also contract Orf by preparing
infected sheep or goat meat for household use or when
slaughtering the animals, and detailed four such cases in the
report.
“In ethnically diverse communities, health-care providers
might be unaware of patients having this type of animal contact
and of the seasonal increases in contact associated with
religious events,” the report said.
“The popularity of hobby farming and home butchering also
increases opportunities for household Orf exposures.”
The report said that in 2010, a 42-year old man in
Massachusetts assisted in a lamb sacrifice for the Muslim feast
holiday Eid al-Adha, holding the animal’s head with his left
hand. Five days later, a small lesion appeared on one of the
fingers of his left hand.
In another case, a 35-year-old man of Ethiopian descent cut
his left thumb with a knife while slaughtering a lamb as part of
Easter festivities and later suffered a thumb lesion.
Orf lesions often heal within a few weeks, CDC veterinarian
Danielle Tack told Reuters. Doctors, particularly in urban
areas, can sometimes misdiagnose Orf, she said.
(Editing By Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
