Characteristic and non-characteristic pathological findings in peste des petits ruminants (PPR) of sheep in the Ege district of Turkey.

This report describes the pathological and immunohistochemical findings in naturally infected lambs from three outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants in Mugla and Aydin provinces of the Ege district of Turkey. At necropsy, ulcerative stomatitis, catarrhal or fibrinous bronchopneumonia, and acute catarrhal enteritis were observed. Histopathologically, syncytial cells containing inclusion bodies were seen in the tongue and in the buccal, labial and soft palate mucosae. In pneumonic lungs, syncytial cells were present in the alveolar lumina, and cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in epithelial cells of the bronchi and bronchioli. Immunohistochemically, viral antigen was strongly labelled in the lung, oral tissues and small intestine.