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== Introduction ==
== Introduction ==
[[Image: Contagious ecthyma.jpg|200px|thumb|right|<small><center>Contagious ecthyma (Courtesy of Bristol BioMed Image Archive)</center></small>]]
Orf is the most common viral '''zoonosis''' in the UK. It causes an acute debilitating but rarely fatal skin disease of sheep, goats and incidentally of ruminants and humans. It is a Parapox virus of the family [[Poxviridae]] and infects by entering a skin lesion in places such as the udder, mouth and throat. These lesions then coalesce to form scabbed masses. It is of particular concern in lambs as mouth lesions prevent them from suckling due to pain. If the sheep has lesions on her udder she is also unlikely to want to let her lambs suckle.
Orf is the most common viral '''zoonosis''' in the UK. It causes an acute debilitating but rarely fatal skin disease of sheep, goats and incidentally of ruminants and humans. It is a Parapox virus of the family [[Poxviridae]] and infects by entering a skin lesion in places such as the udder, mouth and throat. These lesions then coalesce to form scabbed masses. It is of particular concern in lambs as mouth lesions prevent them from suckling due to pain. If the sheep has lesions on her udder she is also unlikely to want to let her lambs suckle.