cowdry bodies cowdry bodies cowdry bodies are eosinophilic or basophilic nuclear inclusions composed of nucleic acid and protein seen in cells infected with herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster virus, and cytomegalovirus. they are named after edmund cowdry. there are two types of intranuclear cowdry bodies: type a (as seen in herpes simplex, vzv and measles ) type b (as seen in infection with poliovirus, cmv and adenovirus), though it may seem that this is an antiquated and perhaps illusory type. light microscopy is used for detection of cowdry bodies.