First cases of contagious ovine digital dermatitis in Germany

Philip Christian Tegtmeyer,Judith Rohde,Teresa Maria Punsmann,Gareth James Staton,Martin Ganter,Nicholas James Evans

doi:10.1186/s13028-020-00544-0

Abstract

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is a significant disease of the ovine foot characterised by severe lameness and progressive separation of the hoof horn capsule from the underlying tissue. Similar to bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), pathogenic members of the genus Treponema including the Treponema medium phylogroup, Treponema phagedenis phylogroup and Treponema pedis are frequently found together in CODD lesions. To date, CODD was only described in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In northern Germany, cases of an unusually severe lameness presented in a sheep flock that had been affected by footrot for several years. These cases were non-responsive to conventional footrot therapies, with some sheep exhibiting substantial lesions of the claw horn that resulted in horn detachment. Lesion swab samples were collected from both clinically affected and asymptomatic animals. In all clinically affected sheep, CODD-associated Treponema phylogroups were detected by polymerase chain reaction. This is the first report of CODD in Germany and mainland Europe, indicating a wider geographic spread than previously considered. In cases of severe lameness attributed to claw lesions in sheep that fail to respond to footrot treatment, CODD should be considered irrespective of geographic location.

Highlights

A novel disease of sheep claws, termed contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), was first described in the UK in 1997 [1]
The farmer had treated the sheep by claw trimming, footbaths and a topical oxytetracycline spray (Animedazon®, Livisto, Senden-Bösensell, Germany), which was the classical footrot treatment [25], but was still unable to stop the spread of lameness in the flock
Swabs from the interdigital space and from lesions at the coronary band of the affected feet of the 12 sheep were investigated for D. nodosus by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) [29]

Summary

Introduction

A novel disease of sheep claws, termed contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), was first described in the UK in 1997 [1]. Despite the detection of D. nodosus and F. necrophorum in CODD [2, 8], the disease is regarded as distinct from footrot or the associated condition, ovine interdigital dermatitis [9]. The farmer had treated the sheep by claw trimming, footbaths (zinc sulphate) and a topical oxytetracycline spray (Animedazon®, Livisto, Senden-Bösensell, Germany), which was the classical footrot treatment [25], but was still unable to stop the spread of lameness in the flock.

Results

Conclusion