Papillomatosis in buffaloes: a less-known disease.

Scant information is available on papillomatosis in buffaloes, and it is an almost unknown disease. It has been described from India, Italy and Turkey. Buffalo papillomatosis occurs in cutaneous and mucosal forms. Cutaneous papillomatosis is manifested as cutaneous wart (CW) and teat papilloma types. The condition is known to be caused by bovine papillomaviruses (BPV)-1 and 2 and their mixed infections. Buffalo CWs are experimentally transmissible to hamsters, cattle as well as buffaloes. Once BPV establishes infection in buffaloes, infection spreads from buffalo to buffalo, without cattle intermediary. Histologically, CWs are mostly diagnosed as fibropapillomas. The mucosal form occurs as urinary bladder tumours similar to enzootic bovine haematuria which is also associated with bracken fern infested areas. BPVs are yet to be demonstrated in teat papillomas and urinary bladder tumours of buffalo cases. Papillomatosis in buffaloes is a little-known disease, but it is a separate infectious ailment of buffaloes and deserves more attention by researchers.