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Thomas AD, Pajor EA, Caddey B, Goldhawk C, Martins L, Orsel K. An experimental model to induce digital dermatitis in beef calves. BMC Vet Res 2022; 18:238. [PMID: 35739561 PMCID: PMC9219410 DOI: 10.1186/s12917-022-03345-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Digital dermatitis (DD) is a multifactorial infectious disease affecting the skin on feet of cattle causing erosion and inflammation above the heel bulbs. Some cases of DD cause lameness and significantly impact animal welfare and productivity. While DD has emerged as a concern for the beef industry, key information regarding early detection and its impact on cattle behaviour is lacking. The primary objective of this study was to determine if an established DD experimental model for dairy calves could be used to induce DD lesions in beef calves. A secondary objective was to describe changes in behaviour and pain associated with induction of DD lesions. Eight beef calves acquired from a single cow-calf operator were enrolled in the study. Upon enrolment, calves were evaluated and determined to be free of foot lesions. Within the experimental environment, calves were housed in individual pens and assigned to two groups (mock-inoculated and inoculated). Both hind feet of each calf were enrolled. Within calf, inoculation protocol was consistent, and a 28-day experimental protocol was employed. Two days prior to inoculation, both hind feet of each calf were abraded (area above the heel bulbs and below the dewclaws), moistened, and wrapped to facilitate an anaerobic condition. Feet were inoculated with macerated DD lesion material or mock inoculum and remained wrapped until clinical signs of DD or protocol endpoint. Results After a period of 14 to 18 days post inoculation, three of five inoculated calves developed clinical signs (lameness), and upon close inspection, DD lesions were present on at least one hind foot. Two of five inoculated calves did not develop lesions within 28 days. Zero of three mock-inoculated calves developed DD. Treponema spp. were detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction from biopsies of induced lesions. Measurements of behaviour prior to disease induction were numerically different between DD affected and mock-inoculated calves. Conclusions An experimental infection model established for dairy cattle was used to successfully induce acute DD lesions in three of five inoculated beef calves. This model can provide a framework to study intervention protocols and to evaluate the impact of DD on behaviour and pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anice D Thomas
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada
| | - Edmond A Pajor
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada
| | - Benjamin Caddey
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada
| | - Christy Goldhawk
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada
| | - Larissa Martins
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada
| | - Karin Orsel
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada.
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Identification and Quantification of Bovine Digital Dermatitis-Associated Microbiota across Lesion Stages in Feedlot Beef Cattle. mSystems 2021; 6:e0070821. [PMID: 34313462 PMCID: PMC8409723 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00708-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Bovine digital dermatitis (DD) is a skin disorder that is a significant cause of infectious lameness in cattle around the world. However, very little is known about the etiopathogenesis of the disease and the microbiota associated with DD in beef cattle. In this study, we provide a comprehensive characterization of DD and healthy skin microbiota of feedlot beef cattle. We also developed and validated a novel multiplex quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to quantify the distribution of DD-associated bacterial species across DD lesion stages. We determined the DD-associated microbiota with deep amplicon sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene, followed by the application of novel and existing qPCR assays to quantify species distributions of Treponema, Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium, and Bacteroides across lesion stages. Deep amplicon sequencing revealed that Treponema, Mycoplasma, Porphyromonas, and Fusobacterium were associated with DD lesions. Culturing of DD biopsy specimens identified Porphyromonas levii, Bacteroides pyogenes, and two Fusobacterium spp. within DD lesions. Using species-specific qPCR on DD lesion DNA, we identified P. levii in 100% of active lesion stages. Early-stage lesions were particularly associated with Treponema medium, T. phagedenis, and P. levii. This study suggests a core DD microbial group consisting of species of Treponema, Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, and Bacteroides, which may be closely tied with the etiopathogenesis of DD. Further characterizations of these species and Mycoplasma spp. are necessary to understand the microbial factors involved in DD pathogenesis, which will help elucidate DD etiology and facilitate more targeted and effective mitigation and treatment strategies. IMPORTANCE Previous work, primarily in dairy cattle, has identified various taxa associated with digital dermatitis (DD) lesions. However, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of DD microbiology in beef cattle. In addition, characterization of bacteria at the species level in DD lesions is limited. In this study, we provide a framework for the accurate and reproducible quantification of major DD-associated bacterial species from DNA samples. Our findings support DD as a polymicrobial infection, and we identified a variety of bacterial species spanning multiple genera that are consistently associated with DD lesions. The DD-associated microbiota identified in this study may be capable of inducing the formation and progression of DD lesions and thus should be primary targets in future DD pathogenesis studies.
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Caddey B, De Buck J. Meta-Analysis of Bovine Digital Dermatitis Microbiota Reveals Distinct Microbial Community Structures Associated With Lesions. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:685861. [PMID: 34336713 PMCID: PMC8322762 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.685861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Bovine digital dermatitis (DD) is a significant cause of infectious lameness and economic losses in cattle production across the world. There is a lack of a consensus across different 16S metagenomic studies on DD-associated bacteria that may be potential pathogens of the disease. The goal of this meta-analysis was to identify a consistent group of DD-associated bacteria in individual DD lesions across studies, regardless of experimental design choices including sample collection and preparation, hypervariable region sequenced, and sequencing platform. A total of 6 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Raw sequences and metadata were identified on the NCBI sequence read archive and European nucleotide archive. Bacterial community structures were investigated between normal skin and DD skin samples. Random forest models were generated to classify DD status based on microbial composition, and to identify taxa that best differentiate DD status. Among all samples, members of Treponema, Mycoplasma, Porphyromonas, and Fusobacterium were consistently identified in the majority of DD lesions, and were the best genera at differentiating DD lesions from normal skin. Individual study and 16S hypervariable region sequenced had significant influence on final DD lesion microbial composition (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that members of Treponema, Mycoplasma, Porphyromonas, and/or Fusobacterium may have significant roles in DD pathogenesis, and should be studied further in respect to elucidating DD etiopathogenic mechanisms and developing more effective treatment and mitigation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Caddey
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Jeroen De Buck
- Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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Cortes JA, Hendrick S, Janzen E, Pajor EA, Orsel K. Economic impact of digital dermatitis, foot rot, and bovine respiratory disease in feedlot cattle. Transl Anim Sci 2021; 5:txab076. [PMID: 34222822 PMCID: PMC8244990 DOI: 10.1093/tas/txab076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Digital dermatitis (DD) has emerged in North American feedlots, although production and economic impacts are not fully understood. Objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate the economic impact of a single case of DD, foot rot (FR), and bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in feedlot cattle and (2) determine its impact on average daily gain (ADG). Feedlot cattle health and production records were available from two feedlots for a 3-yr interval. The dataset consisted of 77,115 animal records, with 19.3% (14,900) diagnosed with a disease. Diseased animals were categorized into five groups: DD, FR, BRD, other diseases (OT), and two or more diseases (TM), with a treatment cumulative incidence of 6.0%, 59.1%, 10.7%, 12.7%, and 11.5%, respectively. FR was the disease with the highest cumulative incidence in both heifers and steers (58.8% and 59.6%, respectively). Of all fall-placed cattle diagnosed with any disease, 48.1% of the cases were FR. DD affected the partial budget in five out of the eight groups of cattle, with the highest impact of DD seen in grass yearling heifers and grass yearling steers: $-98 and $-96 CAD, respectively, relative to their healthier counterparts. Healthy cattle had a significantly higher ADG when compared with DD cattle in five of the eight categories, ranging from 0.11 kg/d in winter-placed heifers to 0.17 kg/d in fall-placed steers. In the economic analysis, it was concluded that on an individual animal basis, BRD was the most impactful of all analyzed diseases, whereas DD was second, marking the importance of controlling and mitigating this foot condition. Identifying differential effects of diseases on a partial budget analysis and ADG of the types of cattle stratified by sex enables feedlot producers to focus control and mitigation strategies on specific groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Alberto Cortes
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | | | - Eugene Janzen
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Ed A Pajor
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Karin Orsel
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
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Impact of Nutrients on the Hoof Health in Cattle. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10101824. [PMID: 33036413 PMCID: PMC7600182 DOI: 10.3390/ani10101824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Lameness is currently one of the most important and economically demanding diseases in cattle. It is manifested in a change in locomotion that is associated with lesions, especially the pelvic limbs. The disease of the hoof is painful, affecting the welfare of dairy cows. Important factors that influence the health of the limbs include nutrition, animal hygiene, stable technology, and genetic and breeding predispositions. Nutrition is one of the basic preventive factors affecting the quality and growth of the hoof horn, and the associated prevalence of hoof disease. The strength and structure of the hoof horn are affected by the composition of the feed ration (amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and toxic substances contaminating the feed ration, or arising in the feed ration as metabolites of fungi).
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Iannaccone M, Ianni A, Elgendy R, Martino C, Giantin M, Cerretani L, Dacasto M, Martino G. Iodine Supplemented Diet Positively Affect Immune Response and Dairy Product Quality in Fresian Cow. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9110866. [PMID: 31731565 PMCID: PMC6912399 DOI: 10.3390/ani9110866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The effects of iodine supplementation on the whole-transcriptome of dairy cow using RNA sequencing has been investigated in this study. Iodine did not influence the milk composition, while an improvement was observed in the immune response as well as in the quality of dairy product. Indeed, the iodine intake specifically influenced the expression of 525 genes and the pathway analysis demonstrated that the most affected among them were related to immune response and oxidative stress. As a consequence, we indirectly showed a better response to bacterial infection because of the reduction of somatic cell counts; furthermore, an improvement of dairy product quality was observed since lipid oxidation reduced in fresh cheese. Such findings, together with the higher milk iodine content, clearly demonstrated that iodine supplementation in dairy cow could represent a beneficial practice to preserve animal health and to improve the nutraceutical properties of milk and its derived products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Iannaccone
- Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture, and Environment, University of Teramo, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy;
| | - Andrea Ianni
- Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy;
| | - Ramy Elgendy
- Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala 75185, Sweden;
| | - Camillo Martino
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” Via Campo Boario, 64100 Teramo, Italy;
| | - Mery Giantin
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy; (M.G.); (M.D.)
| | | | - Mauro Dacasto
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy; (M.G.); (M.D.)
| | - Giuseppe Martino
- Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture, and Environment, University of Teramo, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0861-266950
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