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Small Ruminant Infectious Foot Disease
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Small Ruminant Infectious Foot Disease

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Small Ruminants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2022) | Viewed by 5474

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jennifer Duncan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool. Chester High Road, Neston, Cheshire CH647TE, UK
Interests: small ruminant infectious disease epidemiology and microbiology, especially neonatal diseases and sheep lameness
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lameness in small ruminants remains one of the most important animal welfare and economic problems affecting the small ruminant livestock sector globally. The infectious foot diseases footrot and the recently emerged contagious ovine digital dermatitis are of particular concern.

In recent years, considerable research into footrot epidemiology and control has led to multiple countries attempting eradication programmes using a range of strategies whilst novel microbiological techniques have led to a greater insight into aetiopathogenesis. At the heart of the success of any disease control strategy lies the farmer and the veterinarian. Understanding barriers and motivations for change in people is an area of significant development and impact in human health, and the livestock sector could benefit significantly by understanding this aspect of disease control more deeply.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent research and reviews on infectious foot disease in small ruminants.  Articles from all aspects of the field will be considered; however, we are particularly interested in studies which investigate the socioeconomic impact of infectious foot disease, the efficacy of control strategies, and novel insights into aetiopathogenesis, with the aim of stimulating interest, understanding, and exploration of this important subject.

Dr. Jennifer Duncan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sheep
  • goats
  • lameness
  • footrot
  • contagious ovine digital dermatitis
  • microbiology
  • aetiology
  • pathogenesis
  • diagnostics
  • treatment
  • control
  • management
  • welfare
  • genetics
  • socioeconomic impact
  • vaccination

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2225 KiB  
Article
Natural Mycoplasma Infection Reduces Expression of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines in Response to Ovine Footrot Pathogens
by Adam M. Blanchard, Christina-Marie Baumbach, Jule K. Michler, Natalie D. Pickwell, Ceri E. Staley, Jemma M. Franklin, Sean R. Wattegedera, Gary Entrican and Sabine Tötemeyer
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3235; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233235 - 22 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1698
Abstract
Ovine footrot is a complex multifactorial infectious disease, causing lameness in sheep with major welfare and economic consequences. Dichelobacter nodosus is the main causative bacterium; however, footrot is a polymicrobial disease with Fusobacterium necrophorum, Mycoplasma fermentans and Porphyromonas asaccharolytica also associated. There [...] Read more.
Ovine footrot is a complex multifactorial infectious disease, causing lameness in sheep with major welfare and economic consequences. Dichelobacter nodosus is the main causative bacterium; however, footrot is a polymicrobial disease with Fusobacterium necrophorum, Mycoplasma fermentans and Porphyromonas asaccharolytica also associated. There is limited understanding of the host response involved. The proinflammatory mediators, interleukin (IL)-1β and C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 8 (CXCL8), have been shown to play a role in the early response to D. nodosus in dermal fibroblasts and interdigital skin explant models. To further understand the response of ovine skin to bacterial stimulation, and to build an understanding of the role of the cytokines and chemokines identified, primary ovine interdigital fibroblasts and keratinocytes were isolated, cultured and stimulated. The expression of mRNA and protein release of CXCL8 and IL-1β were measured after stimulation with LPS, D. nodosus or F. necrophorum, which resulted in increased transcript levels of IL-1β and CXCL8 in the M. fermentans-free cells. However, only an increase in the CXCL8 protein release was observed. No IL-1β protein release was detected, despite increases in IL-1β mRNA, suggesting the signal for intracellular pre-IL-1β processing may be lacking when culturing primary cells in isolation. The keratinocytes and fibroblasts naturally infected with M. fermentans showed little response to the LPS, a range of D. nodosus preparations or heat-inactivated F. necrophorum. Primary single cell culture models complement ex vivo organ culture models to study different aspects of the host response to D. nodosus. The ovine keratinocytes and fibroblasts infected with M. fermentans had a reduced response to the experimental bacterial stimulation. However, in the case of footrot where Mycoplasma spp. are associated with diseased feet, this natural infection gives important insights into the impact of multiple pathogens on the host response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small Ruminant Infectious Foot Disease)
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14 pages, 302 KiB  
Article
Characterisation of Dichelobacter nodosus on Misshapen and Damaged Ovine Feet: A Longitudinal Study of Four UK Sheep Flocks
by Caroline M. Best, Janet Roden, Kate Phillips, Alison Z. Pyatt, Tristan Cogan, Rosemary Grogono-Thomas and Malgorzata C. Behnke
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1312; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051312 - 3 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2855
Abstract
Dichelobacter nodosus is the causal agent of ovine footrot, a contagious disease of welfare and economic concern worldwide. Damaged feet may be subclinical carriers of D. nodosus and covertly spread infection. Accordingly, we evaluated the risk of misshapen and damaged feet on D. [...] Read more.
Dichelobacter nodosus is the causal agent of ovine footrot, a contagious disease of welfare and economic concern worldwide. Damaged feet may be subclinical carriers of D. nodosus and covertly spread infection. Accordingly, we evaluated the risk of misshapen and damaged feet on D. nodosus presence and load in four commercial UK sheep flocks. Foot-level observations and swabs (n = 972) were collected from ewes (n = 85) over 12 months. On average, ewes were sampled three times. Feet were inspected for disease and scored (good/poor) for three hoof conformation traits (sole and heel, wall, and wall overgrowth). Swabs were analysed for presence and load of D. nodosus, and mixed models were constructed. Poor hoof conformation traits were present in 92.5% of foot-level observations. Feet with poor sole and heel conformation were more likely to have higher D. nodosus loads (β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04–0.35) than those with good conformation. Furthermore, on feet positive for D. nodosus, wall overgrowth was associated with higher D. nodosus loads (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.01–0.52). Feet with aspects of poor conformation covertly harbour D. nodosus and are a source of infection. Flock management should be guided by hoof conformation to reduce disease challenge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small Ruminant Infectious Foot Disease)
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