A clinical and histopathological comparison of the effectiveness of salicylic acid to a compound of inorganic acids for the treatment of digital dermatitis in cattle

Bovine digital dermatitis (DD) is a painful infectious disease, causing lameness, reduced animal welfare, and production losses in dairy herds. The main factors contributing to DD are an infection with Treponema spp. and poor hygiene. Topical treatment has primarily consisted of antibiotics; however, the demand for effective nonantibiotic alternatives is increasing. The objective was to evaluate the performance of 3 nonantibiotic topical treatments (salicylic acid and a compound of inorganic acids in a 20% solution and in a dry form) on DD in a commercial dairy herd. Within the 30-d test period, 42 DD lesions on 33 Holstein cows were assigned to receive 1 of the 3 treatments. Lesions were biopsied before and after treatment and were clinically evaluated 5 times. Improved lesions were clinically defined as either healed (regeneration of the skin) or healing (dry lesions covered by a scab). Unhealed lesions were defined as either active [with a raw, moist, strawberry-like (granulating) surface] or mature (with a raised papillomatous appearance). The effectiveness of treatment was evaluated histopathologically using the following scores: 0 (no spirochetes present), 1 (small number of spirochetes present in the epidermis), 2 (moderate number of spirochetes present and reaching an intermediary level in the epidermis), and 3 (large number of spirochetes present and reaching the deepest part of the epidermis or the superficial dermis). The improvement rate was 10/14 (71%) for salicylic acid, 11/15 (73%) for the inorganic acid solution, and 8/13 (62%) for the inorganic acid powder. The analysis showed no difference among treatments. The association between clinical score and histopathological score was determined by an odds ratio. The odds ratio of a healed lesion having spirochetes in the epidermis was 0.58 and that of an active DD lesion having spirochetes in the epidermis was 26.5.