Teenager in Wales diagnosed with extremely rare cowpox disease

Cowpox was common in the 18th century and Public Health Wales said the last reported human case in Wales was some 10 to 15 years ago

11:39, 16 JUN 2018

A teenager has been diagnosed with cowpox, a historical illness which is now so rare it hasn't been seen in Wales for more than a decade.

The 15-year-old boy developed injuries on his hands after feeding calves.

Cowpox was more common in the 18th century when milking maids often caught it. Public Health Wales said the last reported human case in Wales was some 10 to 15 years ago.

The virus has almost disappeared because less people milk cows by hand thanks to industrial farming methods.

Nowadays it is very uncommon in both humans and animals, according to Public Health Wales, with feral cats most likely to catch it from rodents.

Cowpox lesions on the arms of a patient from Finland - the four-year-old girl was hospitalised (Image: Creative Commons)

The teenager’s mother, who lives on the Wrexham -Cheshire border but who does not want to be identified, said the calves he had been feeding had nibbled on his hands, causing them to become grazed.

He then developed puss-filled lesions on his hands, arms and feet.

She told BBC Wales : “We were really unsure what it was. The one on his ankle was worrying - it was weeping a clear liquid down his ankle.”

After seeing their GP, they got sent straight to the Countess of Chester Hospital, where he was diagnosed with cowpox.

“I didn’t really know what it was, so I was quite concerned. The first thing you do is look on the internet and that’s when I found out it was quite rare,” she said.

“My son was quite embarrassed - it looked quite a mess. They [the lesions] weren’t nice and it wasn’t pleasant for him.

“It took weeks and weeks to go, a long time. He still has some marks on his hands.”

Dr Aysha Javed - who diagnosed the boy - said it was the first case of cowpox she had seen.

She said: “I think the boy and his family were quite bemused when we told them - I don’t think they expected that to be the diagnosis.

“I think it was very itchy for him but it wasn’t particularly painful.”

The teenager was diagnosed around three months ago, but his case came to light when Dr Javed and her colleagues alerted other medics to it during a recent European Society for Pediatric Dermatology annual meeting.

“We have to inform other colleagues about rare cases and, if it’s something that’s going to be re-emerging, public health professionals need to be alerted,” she added.

“We don’t really see cowpox anymore - it’s one of those diseases that went away.”

Dr Robert Smith, clinical scientist lead for zoonoses at Public Health Wales, told the BBC cowpox had not been reported in Wales for some 10 to 15 years. It is not contagious from person to person

The British Association of Dermatologists said it was very useful for doctors and members of the public to be aware of “what we might consider historical diseases making a resurgence”.

“Cowpox is quite unusual and, as the doctors note, when you look at a pox-like rash on a child these days the first thing that tends to spring to mind is chicken pox,” a spokesman said.

“Although this resurgence is interesting, it’s not something that is particularly worrying as cowpox tends to be benign in nature to otherwise healthy people.”

Source:   https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/teenager-wales-diagnosed-extremely-rare-14792326