By Dopfer, D. and Dreher, M. and Gaastra, W. and Kruitwagen, C. and Mumba, T. and van der Zeijst, B. A. M. and Zeijst, B. A. M., Journal of Veterinary Medicine.Series B, 1999
Description
The course of digital dermatitis after local antibiotic treatment was monitored in an experimental group (11 cattle, treated on diagnosis) and a control group (7 cattle, treated 5 days later) on 2 dairy farms [in the Netherlands?]. The study period was between February and April 1997. Monitoring was performed by means of clinical findings and detection of spirochaetes on the surface of the lesions, using a polymerase chain reaction. Superficial wound smears were taken before and after treatment. 12 animals on both farms followed the classical healing process, but 6 animals responded poorly to treatment. Without treatment, there was no self-cure in the control group within 5 days. There was a significant improvement in the clinical condition of all animals after treatment on both farms, during the follow-up period. The time until reappearance of new digital dermatitis lesions was not significantly different between the experimental and control group, but it was different between the 2 farms, which could be due to the influence of farm factors. Using primers specific for Treponema denticola and Treponema vincentii, all the disease stages had at least one positive polymerase chain reaction result, indicating the presence of spirochaetes in samples of all the disease stages during the healing process. This implies that the spirochaetes are not completely eradicated from the surface of the lesions after treatment. The classical ulcerative disease stage (M2) had relatively more positive polymerase chain reaction results compared with any other disease stage, suggesting a link between the presence of spirochaetes and clinical disease
The course of digital dermatitis after local antibiotic treatment was monitored in an experimental group (11 cattle, treated on diagnosis) and a control group (7 cattle, treated 5 days later) on 2 dairy farms [in the Netherlands?]. The study period was between February and April 1997. Monitoring was performed by means of clinical findings and detection of spirochaetes on the surface of the lesions, using a polymerase chain reaction. Superficial wound smears were taken before and after treatment. 12 animals on both farms followed the classical healing process, but 6 animals responded poorly to treatment. Without treatment, there was no self-cure in the control group within 5 days. There was a significant improvement in the clinical condition of all animals after treatment on both farms, during the follow-up period. The time until reappearance of new digital dermatitis lesions was not significantly different between the experimental and control group, but it was different between the 2 farms, which could be due to the influence of farm factors. Using primers specific for Treponema denticola and Treponema vincentii, all the disease stages had at least one positive polymerase chain reaction result, indicating the presence of spirochaetes in samples of all the disease stages during the healing process. This implies that the spirochaetes are not completely eradicated from the surface of the lesions after treatment. The classical ulcerative disease stage (M2) had relatively more positive polymerase chain reaction results compared with any other disease stage, suggesting a link between the presence of spirochaetes and clinical disease
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