A filter-assisted culture method for isolation ofspp. from bovine digital dermatitis and their identification by MALDI-TOF MS.

Abstract

Digital dermatitis (DD) is a major infectious foot disease of cattle worldwide. Some DD stages are associated with lameness, and the disease has significant economic and animal welfare consequences. The pathogenesis of the disease is not yet fully understood, butspp. have been associated consistently with clinical cases. Isolation of these fastidious bacteria is difficult and cumbersome. We describe an improved method enabling the culturing of the 3spp. (,, and) from bovine foot specimens derived from DD lesions, using a combination of membrane filtering and subsequent growth on selective agar media. The entire procedure from sampling to verification of individualspp. takes up to 24 d. In addition, we established a MALDI-TOF MS-based identification method to be applied for confirmation of the differentspp. This scheme provides an unambiguous, simple, and straightforward identification procedure for DD-associatedspp.