| dc.description.abstract | Dermatophilosis, caused by Dermatophilus congo/ensis, is a disease that affects
mainly cattle, sheep, camels, horses and goats and occurs as an acute or chronic
exudative skin disease1. Injury of the skin by insect and tick bites and thorny bushes
accompanied by prolonged wetting are thought to be important predisposing factors1,2.
Affected animals initially develop moist, round, circumscribed papules that later turn to
scabs and crusts whose location is highly variable3,4.
In tropical and subtropical areas, the disease can be epizootic and can result in
considerable economic losses as a result of lost production, premature cuiling, treatment
costs and downgrading of hides and skins 1,5. Although the clinical disease has been
recognised in several African countries4,6,7,8 the occurrence of clinical disease in Kenya
was only recently reported in three dairy cows in a zero grazing unit This case report
describes an outbreak of acute bovine dermatophilosis in a large scale dairy herd and
highlights that the disease in Kenya could occur in outbreak proportions and in clinically
severe form as has been reported in other countries in West and Central Africa. We
believe that this is the 1st documented outbreak of a severe form of bovine cutaneous
dermatophilosis in exotic dairy animals in Kenya. | en_US |
