Embolic pneumonia in adult dairy cattle associated with udder cleft dermatitis

WE wish to report a number of cases of pneumonia in adult dairy cows that were associated with embolic spread from abscessation cranial to the udder, in turn preceded by udder cleft dermatitis (UCD) – also known as udder intertrigo and ulcerative mammary dermatitis. UCD is a moist dermatitis mostly seen between the anterior of the udder and the abdomen, but also between the front quarters (Bouma and others 2016). It can present with a pungent odour, take many weeks to resolve and is more common in older cows (Warnick and others 2002). High-yielding cows which have calved at least three times are more likely to develop UCD (Waller and others 2014), and cows with a deep udder and a small angle between the udder and abdominal wall are more likely to be affected (Olde Riekerink and others 2014). It has been proposed that the treponemes associated with digital dermatitis (DD) are also involved in the pathogenesis of UCD. However, the aetiology of UCD is likely to be more polymicrobial than DD (Evans and others 2010) and the exact cause of this condition has not been determined. Embolic pneumonia results from haematogenous spread from an infected focus elsewhere in the body, with the most common source …