Four sporadic cases of congenital swinepox are described. The pigs were born with pox lesions over their entire bodies. Microscopic examination revealed ballooning degeneration of keratinocytes, cytoplasmic inclusions and intranuclear vacuolisation. Electron microscopy detected poxvirus particles in all four pigs. The virus was isolated from one pig and identified by HindIII restriction endonuclease digestion as swinepox virus.