Hyperkeratotic skin conditions in New World camelids

Hyperkeratotic skin conditions in New World camelids include chronic mite infestation, zinc-responsive dermatosis, ichthyosis, and idiopathic necrolytic neutrophilic hyperkeratosis (INNH, also known as “munge”). Although these disorders are relatively uncommon, clinical signs may be severe and aesthetics may negatively impact the value of animals used for production. Hyperkeratotic lesions are typically alopecic with varying degrees of skin thickness. Pruritis is not usually a characteristic of hyperkeratotic skin disorders, with the exception of sarcoptic and psoroptic mite infestation. Biopsy is an important diagnostic modality, and treatment depends on etiology; therapy may include steroids, antimicrobials, zinc supplementation, and/or antiparasitic treatment. Although studies investigating the prevalence of skin disorders in New World camelids are limited, a recent retrospective analysis of 68 alpacas with skin disorders found that 10% of animals demonstrated mite infestation, 8% had zinc-responsive dermatosis, and 4.5% had ichthyosis. 1 Diagnosis of INNH was not definitively made in these cases as the disease was thought to be secondary to several other skin disorders. In a separate study, the most common hyperkeratotic disease reported in New World camelids from the United Kingdom was zinc-responsive dermatosis which was diagnosed in 35% of animals with skin lesions, followed by mite infestation in 29% of animals; INNH and ichthyosis were not diagnosed in this report. 2