Distemper skin lesions in a dog.

Skin lesions were studied in a 3-year-old male Maltese dog with distemper. Hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis with vesicles and pustule formation were the outstanding features of the skin lesions around the eye, nose, and mouth. Multinucleated syncytial giant cells together with nuclear and cytoplasmic inclusion bodies containing viral particles and viral antigen were scattered in the epidermis, and epidermal appendages. These findings suggest a direct viral attack on the skin.