Cytopathogical characterization of papillomatosis in cattle of Wolaita Sodo district, Southern Ethiopia

Bovine papillomatosis is a neoplastic disease of the skin manifested as multiple benign tumors that can progress to the malignant tumor. Thus, this study aims to characterize and determine the type and frequencies of bovine papillomatosis in the Wolaita Sodo district. In a cross-sectional study performed from October 2019 to May 2020, 51 skin biopsy samples were collected from purposively selected cattle (with typical wart-like lesions) located in four selected peasant associations of the Wolaita sodo district and examined for characterization of variants of papillomatosis using gross, cytological, and histological methods. Besides, potential risk factors that predispose the cattle to papillomatosis were assessed. The current study revealed that bovine papillomatosis was located in different body parts such as the head, neck, body surface, hind, and forequarter of cattle. In this study, young and female cattle were highly exposed to papillomatosis. Out of (7/51) cattle, 13.7% were infected by concurrent fascioliosis. The frequencies of papillomatosis showed variations at low land as compared to midland. Cytopathological characterization of bovine papillomatosis revealed that 61% were squamous cell papilloma whereas 39% were fibropapilloma. Grossly, it was characterized by solitary to coalescing mass and cauliflower-like lesions having rough and dense surfaces. Cytologically, Squamous cell papilloma was characterized by hypercellularity, bizarre nuclei; cords of neoplastic cells with anisocytosis and anisokaryosis while fibropapilloma was characterized by oval to spindle-shaped fibroblast-like cells. Histologically, rete pegs, squamous differentiation of keratinocytes, excessive proliferation of spindle to plump shaped fibroblasts, and the fibrovascular core were noted. It was concluded that cattle were widely suffering from bovine papillomatosis of two variants. Thus, studies involving a large sample size, and wider diagnostic tools should be conducted in the Wolaita Zone