A 15-year-old boy has surprised doctors by contracting cowpox, a historical disease now so rare it has not been seen in Wales for more than a decade.
The teenager, who lives on the Wrexham-Cheshire border, developed lesions on his hands after feeding calves.
Public Health Wales said the last reported human case in Wales was some 10 to 15 years ago.
Cowpox was more common in the 18th Century when milking maids often caught it.
The virus, which is not contagious from person to person, has all but disappeared because industrial farming methods mean fewer people milk cows by hand.
Now it is very rare in both humans and animals, according to Public Health Wales, with feral cats most likely to catch it from rodents.
The boy’s mother, who does not want to be identified because her son is embarrassed, said the calves he had been feeding had nibbled on his hands, causing them to become grazed.
He then developed pus-filled lesions on his hands, arms and feet.
“We were really unsure what it was,” she said. “The one on his ankle was worrying – it was weeping a clear liquid down his ankle.”
The boy’s rash disappeared within six weeks without treatmentAfter 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 teenager after seeing the distinctive pus-filled lesions on his hands, arms and feet, said it was the first case of cowpox she had seen.
“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,” she said.
“I think it was very itchy for him but it wasn’t particularly painful.”
Source: www.bbc.com
