Homeopathic Remedies for Animal Papillomatosis
Lamella Ojha1, Manpreet Singh2 & Panreiphy GS3
1Veterinary Officer, ARD Department, Govt. of West Bengal
2Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Department of Sheep Husbandry, Jammu
3PhD Scholar, Animal Physiology Division, ICAR-NDRI
Introduction
The papilloma virus (PV), a non-enveloped double-stranded DNA virus with a preference for mucous membranes and skin, causes papilloma, a benign, exophytic, neoplastic growth of squamous epithelium (Hnilicia and Patterson, 2017). According to Howley and Lowy (2007), PV infections have been linked to a variety of neoplastic, hyperplastic, and dysplastic conditions in both humans and animals. Although there are many different types of PV hosts, mammals and birds are the most common ones.
Papilliomatosis in ruminants
Bovine PV type-1 (BPV-1), BPV-2, and BPV-5 are the papillomaviruses from the family Papovaviridae that cause bovine papillomatosis. There are six different varieties of bovine papillomavirus (BPV) that have been found, namely BPV-1 through BPV-6, and these have been divided into two subgroups, A and B, based on the virus’s protein structure. Subgroup A is made up of BPV1, BPV2, and BPV-5, which create fibropapillomas with keratinocyte and dermal fibroblast, subgroup B is made up of BPV-3 and BPV-6, which induce epithelial papillomas with keratinocyte, and BPV-4 infects the epithelial mucosa of the upper part of the gastrointestinal system (Neamat-Allah, 2015). Heifers and dairy animals are frequently affected by bovine papillomatosis. Warts commonly appear on the vaginal mucosa, head, neck, shoulders, and other sensitive areas of the body. According to Borzacchiello and Roperto (2008), there are four main forms of warts: squat, pedunculated, flat, and tags. Warts are quite species-specific. Warts are not harmful and usually go away on their own over time, but poor hygiene and care might cause papillomas to return.
Bovine papillomatosis was seen in 4.86 percent of cattle in northern oasis. Females (2.99%) had a higher prevalence than did males (1.87%). Cattle under one year old had the highest occurrence rate (2.99%) (Salib and Farghali, 2008). According to Sharma et al. (2005), the winter season (37.78%) saw the highest prevalence of papillomas, followed by the autumn (33.33%), summer (20%), and spring (8.89%) seasons.
According to Pattanayak (2004), the same type of viruses have been found from papillomatus lesions in sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, and humans in addition to the bovine papilloma virus that affects cattle and horses. Numerous investigations on BPV infection in domesticated animals including cattle, birds, and wild species like tapirs, giraffes, antelopes, and zebras have been published. Both horses and donkeys can develop equine sarcoid as a result (Trewby et al., 2014).
Papilliomatosis in pet animals
Delius et al. (1994) reported that, papilloma viruses can create warts on the skin and conjunctival membranes, penis, and vulva in dogs (Sansom et al., 1996). In 1898, the first instance of canine papillomatosis was noted (Nicholls and Stanley, 1999). Although this condition is thought to lead to the growth of oral and cutaneous cells in canines, it is hardly ever linked to the occurrence of cutaneous and oral squamous cell carcinomas in this species. Papilloma virus infection has been linked to cutaneous squamous papillomas, cutaneous inverted papillomas, and canine pigmented epidermal nevi, according to Campbell et al. (1988). There are now twenty different varieties of papillomaviruses known to exist in the canine species (Van Doorslaer et al., 2017). Oral papillomatosis is caused by the type 1 PV, which is more common in this species. According to Lange and Favrot (2011), it is most frequently found in puppies under the age of four. No racial or sexual predilection exists (Biricik et al., 2008).
High morbidity, low mortality, a good prognosis, and no illness recurrence are characteristics of papillomatosis because the patient develops immunity to the virus (Favrot, 2012). Animals that are elderly or immunosuppressed are more prone to contracting the PV. In dogs, the disease’s course lasts for around four weeks before it spontaneously disappears, which is not seen in animals whose immune systems are impaired. Young dogs are typically more susceptible to developing these papillomas on their faces, ears, and feet than are senior dogs (Yuan et al., 2007).
Oral epithelial growth, Bowenoid in situ carcinomas, and sarcoids are suggested to be symptoms of papillomatosis in cats (Munday et al., 2017).
Papilliomatosis in wild animals
The most frequent skin tumours to affect equids globally are sarcoids, with prevalence rates ranging from 0.5 percent to 2.0 percent (Marti et al., 1993). Recently, substantial prevalence rates (25–53%) in two populations of inbred zebras have been documented (Marais et al., 2007). There is no gender preference in the effects of equine sarcoid on horses of various ages, breeds, and colours. Sarcoidos are classified into six clinical forms, including occult, verrucose, nodular, fibroblastic, mixed, and malignant kinds. Sarcoidosis treatment is famously challenging, and as of right now, there is no efficient method that completely eliminates the condition. Bovine Papillomavirus (BPV) types 1 and 2 infection is now widely known to be the primary cause of horse sarcoids (Nasir et al., 2008).
Transmission
Direct contact, food, frequent syringe usage, and contaminated pens’ equipment are all ways that papillomatosis spreads to other animals. Rough warts, not painful ones, are a definite indicator that a cow has papillomatosis (Salib and Farghali, 2008). Breeders hardly ever discover papillomas, so they spread throughout the entire body of the cow and infect other cows.
Economic impact
The disease’s economic impact is evident in the loss of animal health, which is followed by bacterial secondary infection, skin myasis, interference with lactation, reduction in animal price, and occasionally difficulty in selling the animal. Another drawback of papillomatosis is an economic loss, since it makes cattle perform poorly due to the proliferation of papillomas that spread across the body surface. This affects how much less the cattle are worth when they are sold.
Homeopathic remedies
More emphasis is increasingly being paid to alternative treatments for different diseases, maybe as a result of the limited effectiveness of antibiotics, the significant cost associated with side effects, and antibiotic resistance as a result of overuse and misuse. Alternative medical techniques are becoming more prevalent in human medicine, but little is known about their application in veterinary medicine because there aren’t any reliable records of their use (Bademkiran et al., 2009). Dr. Samuel Hahnemann created the homoeopathic medical method in Germany in the late eighteenth century. Numerous veterinary surgeons employ homoeopathy as a natural stimulant of the self-healing mechanisms in animals, as evidenced by the growing and successful use of this treatment without adverse effects in veterinary medicine. In homoeopathy, a chemical is chosen to treat an illness based on the knowledge that some substances may be responsible for the symptoms experienced by a patient (Gultekin et al., 2007; Beceriklisoy et al., 2008).
Fig: 1 Multiple crops of papillomas affect buccal mucosa Fig: 2 Post treatment with Taruntula cubensis extract (Adapted from Icen et al., 2011)
Table: Effect of homeopathic remedies for different animals
| Sl no | Species | Symptoms | Treatments | Results | References |
| 1. | Crossbred cattle | Cauliflower like warts appearance on teat skin | Thuja-30-10 drops on a lump of Jaggery (Gur) per.os twice a carbonica-30 is the effective remedy for 15 days | 75% reduction in size of all wart | Shakoor et al., 2012 |
| 2. | Jersey cows | Numerous filiform projection like growth were noticed on the udder and teat region | a) Topical application of thuja ointment, thrice a day (TID) for four weeks
b)Oral administration of thuja extract 20gm, TID for four weeks |
Oral administration of thuja extract (70%) and topical application of thuja ointment (57%) | Kavithaa et al., 2014 |
| 3. | Heifers | Cutaneous warts | 10 drops of thuja extract twice a day (BID) and topical application of thuja ointment at the site of wart for four weeks | 100 % cure rate | Archana et al., 2019 |
| 4. | Female dog (Pug breed) | Oral papillomatosis | Three drops of Thuja. occidentalis 6CH TID for 30 days combined with one ampoule of V. album D3 (Injectcenterâ ) given subcutaneously three times a week for 30 days. | No longer presented the lesions | Valle, 2020
|
| 5. | Dogs | Canine oral papillomatosis, cauliflower like growth | 30 days of Thuya occidentalis | With no recurrence to date | Lira et al., 2021 |
| 6. | Dogs | Oral papillomatosis | Sulfur 30CH, Thuja30CH, Graphites30CH, and Psorinum 30CH | Complete regression of papilloma lesions observed between 7 and 15 days after initiation of treatment | Raj et al., 2020
|
| 7. | Rottweiler bitch | Cauliflower like growth on skin of face, ventral mandible, around eyes and also on skin of legs and ventral abdomen | Treatment with thuja, autoimmune therapy (serum) and topical application like Podowart, apple cidar vinegar, | Proved ineffective | Divya et al., 2015
|
| Later, lithium antimony thiomalate
|
Proved effective in treating the condition. | ||||
| 8. | Crossbred of Akbash and Kangal dogs | Cauliflower like warts in or around the mouth, buccal mocusa, tongue, gingiva, skin near eyes, perineal regions | 2 ML/10 kg of Tarantula cubensis extract subcutaneously two times per week during 3 weeks | Total regression was observed after the tenth application | Icen et al., 2011 |
https://www.pashudhanpraharee.com/management-of-bovine-cutaneous-papillomatosis-a-review/
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