Infectious Footrot

Veterinary Preventive Medicine I (MEDI-302), 3(3-0)

Dr. Zeeshan Ahmad Bhutta
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences,
Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
ETIOLOGY
• Dichelobacter (Bacteroides) nodosus is the essential causal pathogen.
• F. necrophorum aids D. nodosus in the invasion of the foot and
contributes in the inflammatory reaction.
• The type IV fimbriae of D. nodosus are recognized as a major
virulence factor, are highly immunogenic, and provide the basis for
the classification of D. nodosus strains into two major classes based
on the genetic organization of the fimbrial gene region,
• class I containing strains of serogroups A, B, C, E, F, G, I, and M
• class II consisting of serogroups D and H.
Benign Footrot
• The infection is confined largely to the interdigital skin, with only minimal underrunning
of the adjacent horn.
• Clinically, benign footrot appears similar to ovine interdigital dermatitis, but D nodosus is
involved—a situation that is hard to assess because culture of D nodosus is difficult and
rarely done.
• The odor, however, is characteristic.
• Lameness is common but less severe than in virulent footrot.
• The etiology and pathogenesis are the same, but the strains of D nodosus are less
virulent and lack the hoof-invasive properties of the strains that cause virulent footrot.
• Running the sheep through foot baths containing 10% w/v zinc sulfate once every 14
days during the wet season is usually adequate for control.
• Since the advent of long-acting antibiotics such as tetracycline, their use has been
adopted with good results.
Virulent footrot
• Virulent footrot is a specific, chronic, necrotizing disease of the epidermis
of the interdigital skin and hoof matrix that begins as an interdigital
dermatitis and extends to involve large areas of the hoof matrix.
• Because the sensitive lamina and its network of capillaries are destroyed by
the infection, the hoof wall (corium) loses its blood supply and anchorage
to the underlying tissue and becomes detached.
• Footrot is extremely contagious and, under suitable conditions and
susceptible genetics, morbidity may approach 100%.
• The infection is also rarely found in goats, deer, and cattle.
• The potential for genetic selection for increased resistance to footrot has
been established.
Epidemiology
• Geographic Occurrence
• Footrot of sheep is common in all countries where there are large numbers of sheep,
except that it does not occur in arid and semiarid areas unless the sheep have access to
wet areas such as subirrigated swales.
• Host Occurrence
• Sheep are the species principally affected, but goats are also susceptible.
• Infection has been identified in farmed red deer and in cattle and is considered the cause
of overgrown and deformed claws in wild mouflon in Europe.
• With environmental conditions of moisture and warmth, the disease in sheep has a high
attack rate, and a large proportion of a group of sheep can be affected within 1 to 2
weeks.
• Both claws of a foot and more than one foot (usually all) on the sheep will be affected.
• The disease is common, and in high-risk areas the prevalence of infected flocks is high.
• Source of Infection
• The source of infection of D. nodosus is discharge from the active or chronic infection in
the feet of affected animals.
Epidemiology
• Methods of Transmission
• Infection is usually introduced into a flock by the introduction of
carrier sheep, although sheep can become infected from the
environment when footrot-free sheep use yards, roads, or trucks that
have been used by footrot-infected sheep in the immediate past.
• Spread within a flock is facilitated by the flocking nature of sheep and
heavy environmental contamination around communal drinking and
feeding areas.
• Spread from ewe to lamb in intensive systems can be rapid, within 5
to 13 hours.
Pathogenesis
• Maceration of the interdigital skin from prolonged wet conditions
underfoot allow for infection with F. necrophorum.
• This initial local dermatitis associated with infection with F.
necrophorum at the skin and the skin– horn junction may progress no
further, but the hyperkeratosis induced by this infection facilitates
infection by D. nodosus if it is present.
• The preliminary dermatitis has been named “ovine interdigital
dermatitis” and is also called “foot scald.”
Clinical Findings
• Sheep
• Virulent Footrot
• In a flock, a sudden onset of lameness of several sheep is the usual
presenting sign of footrot because the disease is not detected before this
occurs.
• The pain associated with infection is severe, and affected sheep will limp or
carry the affected leg.
• Usually more than one foot is affected, and affected sheep may graze on
their knees.
• On close examination the earliest sign of virulent footrot is swelling and
moistness of the skin of the interdigital cleft and a parboiled and pitted
appearance at the skin– horn junction in the cleft.
• This inflammation is accompanied by slight lameness, which increases as
necrosis underruns the horn in the cleft.
Clinical Findings
• The underrunning starts as a separation of the skin–horn junction at
the axial surface just anterior to the bulb of the heel and proceeds
down the axial surface and forward and backward.
• There is destruction of the epidermal matrix beneath the hard horn,
which is subsequently separated from the underlying tissues.
• In severe cases both the axial and the abaxial wall and the sole are
underrun, and deep necrosis of tissue may lead to the shedding of
the horn case.
• The separation may not be obvious on superficial visual examination
but can be detected by trimming the feet with a knife or secateurs.
• There is a small amount of distinctive, gray, foul-smelling exudate,
but abscessation does not occur.
Clinical Findings
• Both claws of the one foot will be involved, and commonly more than
one foot is involved.
• When extensive underrunning has occurred, lameness is severe.
• A systemic reaction, manifest by anorexia and fever, may occur in
severe cases.
• Recumbent animals become emaciated and may die of starvation.
• Secondary bacterial invasion and/or fly strike may result in the spread
of inflammation up the legs.
Clinical Findings
• Benign Footrot
• Benign footrot is manifest with interdigital lesions, a break at the
skin–horn junction, and separation of the soft horn, but the disease
does not progress beyond this stage to severe underrunning of the
hard horn of the foot.
• The interdigital skin becomes inflamed and covered by a thin film of
moist necrotic material; the horn is pitted and blanched.
• It is difficult to distinguish between an established infection with
benign footrot and the early stages of virulent footrot.
• With virulent footrot, it is common to find all stages and severity
levels of the disease in the same flock.
Clinical Findings
• Goats
• Footrot is associated with D. nodosus and is manifested by severe
interdigital dermatitis.
• There may be some separation of the skin– horn junction at the axial
surface, but the disease is less invasive, and there is much less
underrunning of the horn of the sole or the abaxial surface of the foot
compared with sheep.
• Cattle
• Infection with D. nodosus is also associated primarily with a severe
interdigital dermatitis, and there may be lameness.
• There is fissuring and hyperkeratosis of the interdigital skin, with pitting
and erosion at the skin–horn junction in the cleft.
• There is also fissuring, pitting, and erosion on the horny bulbs of the heel.
• There may be underrunning at the heel, but it is usually minimal.
Clinical Pathology
• Detection of Organism
• Smears
• PCR
• ELISA
DDX
Treatment
• Topical Treatment
• Local applications include
• chloramphenicol (10% tincture in methylated spirits or propylene
glycol)
• Oxytetracycline (5% tincture in methylated spirits)
• cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide or cetrimide (20% alcoholic
tincture)
• Zinc sulfate (10% solution)
• copper sulfate (10% solution)
• Dichlorophen as a 10% solution in either diacetone alcohol or ethyl
alcohol.
Treatment
• Footbathing for Treatment and Control
• Zinc Sulfate Solution (10% to 20%)
• Sheep are stood for 1 hour in a footbath containing a 10% to 20% zinc sulfate
solution with 2% sodium lauryl sulfate with sufficient depth to cover the
coronet.
• The treatment is repeated in 5 days, then after a further 21 days
• Copper Sulfate Solution (5%)
Treatment
• Antibiotic Treatment
• Penicillin/streptomycin (single IM dose of 70,000 U/kg procaine
penicillin and 70 mg/ kg dihydrostreptomycin)
• Erythromycin (single IM dose of 10 mg/kg)
• Long-acting oxytetracycline (single IM dose of 20 mg/kg)
• Lincomycin/spectinomycin (single SC dose of 5 mg/kg lincomycin and
10 mg/kg spectinomycin)
• Gamithromycin (single SC dose of 6 mg/kg)
• Long-acting amoxicillin (single IM dose of 15 mg/kg)
Control
• Animals from unknown premises or auction houses should not be purchased.
• Any sheep to be added to the flock should be quarantined for several weeks to
prevent the spread of footrot and other chronic diseases.
• During the quarantine period, the animal’s feet should be lightly trimmed and
examined closely for pockets and other malformations that suggest a previous D
nodosus infection.
• Vehicles (eg, trucks, trailers) or facilities in which unknown or infected sheep have
been held should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before placing
uninfected sheep in them.
• If it is not possible to thoroughly disinfect transport vehicles, zinc sulfate can be
liberally scattered over the floor to reduce viable bacteria.
• Because the incubation period of footrot is ~14 days, foot bathing at 10-day
intervals will control spread of the organism in affected flocks during periods of
the year when the sheep are in wet conditions.
Control
• Footrot has been controlled by placing foot baths with 10% w/v zinc sulfate
solution around water troughs, forcing sheep to walk through them and stand in
order to drink.
• Lame sheep should be separated for treatment and not returned to the flock until
all evidence of footrot is gone.
• D nodosus vaccines accelerate healing in affected sheep and aid in protecting
unaffected sheep.
• Alum-precipitated vaccines require two doses 4–6 wk apart to establish effective
immunity, which persists for 2–3 mo.
• Addition of zinc to trace mineral salt, reportedly effective in reducing hoof rot in
cattle, has not been shown to be particularly helpful for sheep footrot.
• However, zinc is important for immunity and skin/hoof health. Providing it in a
well-balanced trace mineral mix may be helpful in locations deficient in zinc.
Any Question?