Abstract
Extract
Papillomatous digital dermatitis (PDD) is an infectious and contagious disorder of housed, adult dairy cattle. The ensuing lameness is often severe and results in significant economic loss, mainly due to decreased milk production (Hernandez et al Citation2002). The disease, first described some 30 years ago in Italy (Cheli and Mortellaro Citation1974), has since been reported in many other European countries (Peterse et al Citation1982; Blowey and Sharp Citation1988), North America (Rebhun et al Citation1980; Read et al Citation1992; Borgmann et al Citation1996) and Australia (McLennan and McKenzie Citation1996), though not in New Zealand. In the United Kingdom and North America, PDD is the most common skin lesion observed in association with bovine lameness.