Abstract
Schroeder ME, et al. Detection of Tritrichomonas foetus by RT-rtPCR in pooled bovine smegma samples. J Vet Diagn Invest 2023;35:178–181. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10406387221149407
Further to comments from an alert expert reader, we are correcting an error in terminology in the above article. “Smegma sample(s)” should be “preputial washing(s)” in the title and throughout the article.
Smegma is a sebaceous secretion, and the term should be restricted to humans. The horse is the only domestic mammal with preputial sebaceous glands that produce a secretion similar to human smegma. Ruminants have sebaceous glands only at the opening of the prepuce in the haired skin of the external sheath. Hence, the bovine samples tested in the JVDI article are more correctly termed preputial washings than smegma.
We apologize for this error in terminology.