Evidence of intrauterine transmission of lumpy skin disease virus.

The current study describes the clinical, histopathological, molecular and serological diagnosis of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in a premature 1-day old calf that has been delivered from a cow that exhibited signs of LSD during the seventh month of pregnancy. The calf showed generalized skin lesions accompanied with signs of immaturity and died 36 h after birth. Postmortem and histopathological examinations revealed the involvement of multiple tissues. The presence of Neethling virus DNA in tissues was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing. Results of ELISA and serum neutralization test (SNT) confirmed that the calf had developed precolostral serum antibodies to LSD virus indicating in utero virus transmission. All tested sera collected from animals located in the same area were serologically positive, indicating exposure to LSD virus.