Surgical Management and Treatment of Papillomatous Growth on the Trunk of a Young Captive African elephant (Loxodonta africana) in Dubai Safari Park.

Abstract

The Papilloma virus, a member of the Papillomaviridae family, is responsible for the benign wart-like cutaneous lesions known as Papillomas1. It has been observed on the skin over the shoulder, hip, leg, and trunk in addition to the nasal or oral mucosa, most frequently at the oral mucocutanous junctions, and it is contagious between elephants. One captive African elephant in the Dubai Safari Park displayed a few tennis ball-sized cutaneous Papillomatous growths on the trunk that required surgical excision and management. The report discusses surgical growth control, autohemotherapy for elephants, and the effectiveness of autogenous vaccines.