Turkeypox virus is a virus of the family Poxviridae and the genus Avipoxvirus that causes turkeypox.[1] It is one of the most common diseases in the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) population.[2] Turkeypox, like all avipoxviruses, is transmitted either through skin contact or by arthropods (typically mosquitos) acting as mechanical vectors.[3]
Turkeypox virus was first reported in a turkey flock in New York by E.L. Burnett,[4] and may be identified by nodular proliferative skin lesions on the non-feathered parts of the body and in the fibrino-necrotic and proliferative lesions in the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract.[5]
^Prukner-Radovčić, E.; Lüschow, D.; Grozdanić, I. Ciglar; Tišljar, M.; Mazija, H.; Vranešić, Đ.; Hafez, H. M. (2006). "Isolation and Molecular Biological Investigations of Avian Poxviruses from Chickens, a Turkey, and a Pigeon in Croatia". Avian Diseases. 50 (3): 440–444. doi:10.1637/7506-012006R.1. JSTOR4099085. PMID17039847. S2CID28158634.