Immunoperoxidase study of adenovirus pneumonia in dogs.

The pathology of adenovirus pneumonia in 16 dogs is described. Clinically, these dogs had been severely ill, with severe dyspnoea and listlessness, but only faint coughing. Histopathological lesions could be associated directly with the presence of adenovirus antigens in the lungs of these dogs by using an unlabelled immunoperoxidase technique on paraffin tissue sections. The lesions were focal and located in alveoli and bronchioles. Infected cells were mostly alveolar macrophages and less frequently type 1 and 2 pneumocytes and bronchiolar epithelial cells. Infiltrating neutrophils and lymphocytes were not observed to be infected. This type of pneumonia appears to be a fairly well defined clinical and pathological entity in kennel dogs.