In your posting to the virology newsgroup about sea turtles,
you wrote:
>I would just like to know if anyone is aware of another
>viral disease that has such a strong association with
>the eyes .... but then cause the entire body to break out
>in tumours.
There a several viruses of fish that cause
fibroproliferative tumours of the skin and other tissues.
These tumours can occasionally affect the eyes, although
they would rarely originate in the eyes. At this stage I do
not have specific case reports regarding which of the
following virus-induced tumours have been associated with
eye lesions in fish, but they should be considered as
potential models for the condition you are observing:
Lymphocystis virus, an iridovirus
Walleye dermal fibrosarcoma virus, a retrovirus
As well as causing multiple tumours in specific
sites or disseminated throughout the body, lymphosarcomas
may also lodge in the eyes. Some lymphosarcomas have been
associated with viruses:
Lymphosarcoma of pike and muskellunge, retrovirus-like
particles have been observed by electron microscopy in
affected tissue
Adult T cell leukaemia/lymphoma of humans caused
by human T lymphotrophic virus type I
Feline lymphosarcoma caused by feline leukaemia virus
Enzootic bovine leucosis caused by bovine leukaemia
virus
Two orbiviruses, Wallal and Warrego viruses, have recently
been isolated from the eyes of kangaroos with choroid
blindness in Australia. Inoculation of these viruses into
kangaroos has reproduced the eye pathology. However, there
is no evidence of an association with tumours.
It may also be worth considering bacterial diseases such as
mycobacteriosis as causes of multiple proliferative lesions
including lesions in the eyes.
Some of the above comments of mine would have to be
dismissed according to the results of histopathological
examinations on the lesions.
Adrian W Philbey
Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute
Private Mail Bag 8
Camden NSW 2570
Australia
philbea at agric.nsw.gov.aunswema05 at angis.su.oz.au
