Disseminated adenovirus infection associated with cutaneous and visceral hemorrhages in a nursing piglet

An unusual adenovirus infection in a conventionally raised nursing pig was characterized clinically by hemorrhagic diathesis of the skin and microscopically by disseminated viral inclusions in the endothelial, interstitial, and epithelial cells of the skin, kidney, spleen, liver, heart, and small and large intestines. This disease was confirmed ultrastructurally by demonstration of typical adenoviral particles in the nuclei of endothelial cells in the myocardium and of interstitial cells in the small intestine. This is the first report of disseminated adenovirus infection in a nursing pig in North America.