Bacterial Diseases

Enterotoxemia (pulpy kidney disease)

Signs: Circling, staggering, falling, recumbency, convulsions, sudden death

PM lesion: Soft pulpy kidneys

Treatment: Not effective but oral and parentral antibiotics may be tried

Control: Vaccination; generally annually, 1 month prior to breeding/lambing. Lamb at 10 days of age if both parents aren’t vaccinated or else after 4 months of age.

Anthrax

Signs: Sudden body temperature rise, dyspnoea, bleeding from natural orifices

PM lesions: splenomegaly

Treatment: Pencillins, Oxytetracycline, supportive therapy, anti anthrax serum 50-100ml iv

Control: Anthrax spore vaccine @1ml s/c annually before onset of monsoon

Note: Post-mortem should not be conducted.

 

Brucellosis

Signs: fever, abortion in late pregnancy, orchitis

Diagnostics: Rose Bengal Precipitation Test, Milk Ring Test

Treatment: No specific treatment, Oxytetracycline has proven to be successful

Control: Brucella cotton-19 strain vaccine annually.

 

Miscellaneous bacterial diseases

Listeriosis: Circling disease/silage disease, to be differentially diagnosed from gid, thiamine deficiency. For treatment, large doses of Oxytetracycline or Penicillin may help in some cases.

Tetanus: Source: horse dung etc; Signs: stiffness, lock jaw; Prevention: tetanus antitoxin; Treatment: tetanus toxoid, procaine penicillin, muscle relaxants, etc.

Foot rot: Signs: lameness, lifting of foot, loss of weight bearing; Differential diagnosis: nail piercing, any foot injury; Prevention: keep animal in dry place, regular hoof trimming; Treatment: copper sulphate, potassium permanganate foot dips, in case foot is afflicted with pus, use penicillin.

Mastitis: Diagnosis: Strip cup test (under field conditions, reagent for test can be made using 5 spoons of 3% detergent solution + 500ml water), add the milk in reagent, if flakes appear, animal is positive for mastitis. Treatment includes use of broad spectrum antibiotics like enrofloxacin, marbofloxacin, gentamicin, streptopenicillin, etc.

 

Viral Diseases

PPR (Peste-des-Petites Ruminants)

Signs: erosive stomatitis, high fever, conjuctivitis, bronchopneumonia, shooting diarrhea

Treatment: conservative management with broad-spectrum antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and anti-histaminic drugs, application of glycerin after washing with 1% potassium permanganate solution.

Control: isolation of the affected animal

Prevention: vaccination (Raksha PPR/Bio PPR): 1st dose at 3-6 months of age, repeat annually (literature: after 3 yrs).

 

Blue tongue

Signs: odema of lips, gums, tongue, cyanosis of tongue, lameness

Treatment: conservative management with broad-spectrum antibiotics

Prevention: Raksha blu vaccine, 1st dose at 3-6 months of age, then repeat annually.

 

Sheep and goat pox

Signs: pock lesions on whole body, mortality, fever, rhinitis, conjunctivitis and enlargement of all superficial lymph nodes, especially prescapular lymph nodes

Occurrence: Dec-Apr.

Vaccination: prior to occurrence. The vaccination is done every year in healthy sheep of above 3 months of age with Sheep Pox Vaccine.

FMD (Foot & Mouth Disease)

Signs: vesicles & ulcers in interdigital spaces, lameness

Treatment: Streptopenicilllin, wash with 1% solution of potassium permanganate, apply glycerin on affected areas

Prevention: Raksha FMD every 6 months – Sept/Oct and March/April.

 

Orf/contagious ecthyma/mawa: Signs: pustular dermatitis, negligible mortality, more prevalent in goats. Prevention: orf vaccine (Mukteshwar strain).

 

Parasites in sheep and goats

Trematodes

Amphistomiasis

More prevalent in plain areas

Signs: immature flukes are seen which are more pathogenic, mucosal plugs in the faeces (soiled perineal area), foetid/watery diarrhoea, intestinal sloughing leads to putrification and foul smelling diarrhoea.

Treatment: Oxyclozanide, Triclabendazole.

 

Fascioliasis

More prevalent in hilly areas.

Signs: bottle jaw, hepatitis, jaundice, anorexia, no smelly diarhoea.

Treatment: Triclabendazole, Rafoxanide (for sheep & goat)

Cestodes

Monieziosis: 90% sheep are positive. Occurrence: spring rise. Treatment: Praziquintal, Fenbendazole.

 

Nematodes

GIT nematodiosis

Mainly Haemonchosis (sucks 0.05ml blood/day)

Occurrence: spring rise (Feb-March), 28-30 degree celsius, humidity

Acute haemonchosis: animal is normal, cause of immediate death is blood loss, on post-mortem abomasal haemorrhagic bites are seen.

Chronic haemonchosis: signs: pale mucous membrane, bottle jaw, reduced growth, greenish diarrhoea , hypoprotienaemia (economic loss), on post-mortem pale organs, haemorrhagic bites are seen.

Treatment: Albendazole, Fenbendazole, Levamisole

Dictyocaulus/lung worm infestation

10-20% prevalent in plains and 80% in hilly areas

Signs: coughing with husk/hoose sound, fever, eggs in nasal discharge and sputum

Post-mortem: put sheep/goat lung in luke warm water, lung worms can be seen.

Treatment: Levamisole

 

Coccidiosis 

Problem of young ones – leads to high mortality

Signs: Hind limbs soiled with faeces (after 25 days of birth generally).

Differential diagnosis: at 0-15 days from Rotaviral diarrhea and colibacillosis, at 25 days to 2 months generally coccidiosis occur.

Treatment: Amprolium (given in drinking water), Monensin, Lasalocid, Sulphonamides (oral).

 

Ectoparasites

Flies: Larvae of warble fly infiltrate sub-cutaneous tissue of goats. Warble fly occurrs during spring rise in hilly belts of affecting generally goats. Treatment includes use of ivermectin (sub-cutaneous/pour-on). For prevention, treat all goats with ivermectin.

Mites: Sarcoptes in goats and Psoroptes in sheep – deep burrowing mites. Signs: blackish skin colour. Treatment: Ivermectin (oral -200microgram/kg body weight of animal).

Gid: Cerebrospinal nematodiosis generally seen in goats. Ocurrence – ending of July to October, after rains mosquitos increase. Treatment: Ivermectin 200 microgram/kg during July ending (Treatment of Haemonchus +Prophylaxis of Gid).

 

Authored By

Dr. Abhinav Thappa

Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Block Samba,

Department of Sheep Husbandry, Government of Jammu & Kashmir

 

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