Transmission of the white-tailed deer cutaneous fibroma

Cutaneous fibromas were successfully transmitted to 7 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) inoculated with crude fibroma extracts (2 deer) or with partially purified deer fibroma virus (5 deer). The fibromas were transmitted by intradermal and subcutaneous inoculation and by rubbing the virus preparation into tattoo sites. Inoculation by scarification was not successful. The induced tumors resembled those of naturally occurring fibromas. Tattoo inoculation sites underwent an initial acute inflammatory response followed by mesenchymal proliferation, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration, and finally regression. The deer developed antibody titers against deer fibroma virus as determined by hemagglutination inhibition, using mouse RBC. Viral antigens could not be detected by indirect immunofluorescence in any induced fibroma.