Louis Greeff : I have a group of buffalo that have developed these lesions on their skin the past few weeks. Any ideas of what it can be, and how to treat this. Gary Bauer, [18 Jun 2023 at 12:53:37]: Hi Louis. I have seen it also lately, particularly in young animals and lactating cows. Years ago I did a skin scraping and found Psoroptes, which I treated with Dectomax. I don't treat anymore, as I find that they disappear a few weeks after first good rains. I assume some sort of drop in immune status / nutrition and recovery from clinical condition, caused by normally subclinical infestation?? Bart Gazendam, [18 Jun 2023 at 17:23:24]: Also looks like ringworm perhaps? Louis Greeff : Pierre Nel, [19 Jun 2023 at 06:03:20]: Psoroptes generally does not show as such well defined areas of hair loss. Its more of a general dorsal flaking & crusting, usually first in small calves and old poor conditioned animals Hein Muller, [19 Jun 2023 at 12:55:00]: Hi Louis I see the buffalo have lost condition, their skins are dry and it's winter, so Vit A deficiency is a possibility. I've seen these kind of lesions mostly in winter. I've send quite a few skin biopsies of these kind of lesions if I don't find mites on scrapings, to Prof Nick Kriek before for histopathology. But could so far not determine the exact cause. So DD's: Vit A / E deficiency Mineral deficiency Mites Fungi I always treat with avermectines, Vit ADE injection and local fungicide, and Vit + mineral supplements Henry Labuschagne, [19 Jun 2023 at 17:15:41]: Also need to rule out Dermatophilosis. This year we had late wet conditions and I have seen cases recently.
