Spontaneous Teat Papillomatosis in Indian Cows: A pathological study

A total of thirty four cases of teat warts (33 in cows and 1 in buffalo) were recorded in Nainital and Bareilly district of Uttarakhand and U.P., India. Grossly, three types of lesions were found viz. rice grain shape, flower-like and frond type. Twelve cases were examined histopathologically and were diagnosed as papilloma characterized by hyperkeratinisation with basket wave appearance in keratin layer, parakeratosis, acanthosis, keratohyaline granules, koilocytes, intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusion bodies and occasionally presence of few mitoses in the basal cell layer. Transmission electron microscopy revealed high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio with enlarged, pleomorphic, elongated or bizarre shaped nucleus. Koilocytes were seen with partial or complete cytoplasmic vacuolations. Papilloma virus-like particles of50-55 nm sizes were demonstrated in tumour cells. This is first confirmed histopathological and ultrastructural report of teat papillomatosis in cows from India.