| Summary: | An apparently new skin disease affecting the feet of farmed mink (' Mustela vison') was observed in eastern and central Canada in the spring of 1996. Epidemiologic studies showed that the disease prevalence varied from 0.8% to 69% among farms, that males were preferentially affected and that there was an association between the condition and the feeding of harp seal meat ('Phoca groenlandica'). The lesions ranged from alopecia, swollen pads, mild hyperkeratosis and thick skin folds around toes; to ulcers, crusts and marked hyperkeratosis. Microscopically there was hyperkeratosis and a wide spectrum of follicular inflammation. Bacterial cultures were mixed but 'Staphylococcus intermedius' predominated. Virus isolation attempts were negative as was immunohistochemistry for morbillivirus. One out of 42 analyzed mink sera contained antibodies against calicivirus (San Miguel sea lion virus 5, 13, 17). The study suggests that the cause of pododermatitis in mink is an, as yet unidentified, infectious agent with secondary bacteriologic pyoderma.
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