BACTERIAL DISEASES
ANTHRAX
■ Bacillus anthracis causes Anthrax in animals.
■ Spores remain viable for many years in soil, water and
animal hides and products.
■ The main routes of entry of endospores are by ingestion
from soil when grazing or in contaminated food and by
infection of wounds
■ Cattle, sheep and goats are most susceptible to infection.
Symptoms
■ In peracute septicaemia death occurs within 2 hours after
animal collapses with convulsions
■ Sudden death in animals that appeared normal is common.
■ In acute septicaemia death occurs within 48 to 96 hours clinical
signs include fever, anorexia, ruminal stasis, haematuria and
blood tinged diarrhoea.
■ Pregnant animals may abort and milk production often abruptly
decreases.
■ Terminal signs include severe depression, respiratory distress
and convulsions.
Prevention and Control
■ Prevention of anthrax in animals is aided by active
immunization.
■ The organism is susceptible to penicillin-G, tetracyclines,
erythromycin and chloramphenicol.
HAEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA
Pasteurella multocida is small Gram –ve rods
or coccobacilli that show bipolar staining
Symptoms
• Fever, a sudden drop in milk yield, signs of abdominal pain,
severe diarrhea and dysentery, respiration becomes rapid
and shortly before death the mucous membranes appear
cyanotic.
• In less acute cases there will be oedema development in the
region of the head, neck and brisket. The nasal discharge
may be blood stained or purulent. Death occurs within 2-4
days.
Control and prevention
• Pasteurella is amenable to Penicillin-G, streptomycin,
chloramphenicol, chlortetracycline, sulpha and
trimethoprim, enrofloxacin and oxytetracycline.
• Vaccination
BLACK QUARTER
■ Clostridium chauvoei causes black quarter or black leg in cattle.
■ Gram positive, rod shaped with rounded ends.
■ Worldwide distribution in soil and pastures.
Symptoms
■ The disease usually occurs in young cattle of 6 months to about
2-3 years of age. Crepitating swelling in the hind or fore quarter,
lameness, muscles shows trembling with violent twitching.
Death usually occurs within 24 hours.
Control and prevention
• Hyper immune serum (HIS) is used to control explosive
outbreaks. Penicillin along with HIS is used to treat the
disease.
• Oxytetracycline & Chlortetracycline can also be
employed effectively in early stages.
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS
Mycobacterium bovis causes tuberculosis in many animal species
and also cause tuberculosis in human
Clinical signs
General form
■ Affected animals become docile, progressive emaciation,
capricious appetite, fluctuating body temperature and rough /
sleek hair coat, animal does not put up weight. All these
general signs are pronounced following calving.
Respiratory form
■ Silent or paroxysmal cough especially during early morning
and chill weather. Chronic cough with dyspnoea, squeaking
crackles, enlargement of retropharyngeal lymph node
causes dysphagia and noisy breathing due to pharyngeal
obstruction.
Reproductive form
■ Metritis and inflammation of placenta leads to infertility,
abortion and failure in conception.
Control and prevention
■ Treatment and vaccination are inappropriate in control
programmes for cattle. In many countries, tuberculin
testing followed by isolation and slaughter of reactors
has been implemented as the basis of national
eradication schemes.
Para-tuberculosis (Johne’s disease)
■ M. avium subsp paratuberculosis
■ Cattle, sheep, goat.
■ Chronic diarrhoea and emaciation. In sheep and goat
diarrhoea, emaciation and wasting is seen.
■ Treatment not done, slaughter the sero positive animals.
■ Vaccination is carried out only in calves less than one month
of age.
BRUCELLOSIS
Brucella abortus species are obligate intra cellular
parasites and cause abortion in last trimester
of pregnancy
Symptoms
• The incubation period is usually from 30 to 60 days.
• Can affect the fertility of the animal as well as cause mastitis
• In the bull, orchitis and epididymitis.
• Abortion at 6-8 months and retained placentae are the
cardinal signs.
Prevention and control
■ The attenuated live vaccine is used in female calves 4 to 12
months of age.
■ The adjuvant bacterins is used as booster vaccine.
MASTITIS
• Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland.
• The milk undergoes physical, chemical and
microbiological changes
• Mammary glandular tissue undergo physical and
pathological changes.
• Infected milk colour and consistency change and
contains more amount of leucocytes.
• Mastitis is caused majorly by Staphylococcus,
Streptococcus and coliform bacteria and less often by
other organisms
Clinical signs
• Per acute form: Pyrexia, anorexia, respiratory distress,
swollen, hot and painful udder. Cessation of milk production.
Exudate are often blood stained.
• Acute form: Swollen udder, changes in quality of milk. Milk
become curd like, yellow, brown fluid with flakes and clots.
• Subacute form: No changes in the udder tissue.
• Chronic form: Udder is haemorrhagic, and fibrotic. Swollen
and palpable supra mammary lymph node. Udder is thick,
firm, nodular and atrophic, yellowish or white fluid with clots
and flakes.
Treatment
• Stripping out the milk from the infected quarters.
• Cleaning of infected quarters with normal saline and distilled
water.
• Infusion of antibiotic therapies immediately after the infection.
Proper use antibiotics as per the antibiogram.
Control:
• Hygienic measures are important.
• Animals diagnosed positive should be milked at last.
• Milkers should wash their hands before milking and should
use well washed overalls.
• A separate clean cloth for each cow is used for washing the
udder with a disinfectant.
• The first stream of milk from each quarter should not be
allowed to drop on floor but collected in a separate
container. Milkers should not wet their hands with first stream
of milk.
Cow side test/ California mastitis test
(CMT)/ Strip cup test
■ Immediate determination of potential infection status of lactating cows
■ CMT is a quick, simple test that accurately predicts the somatic cell count of milk from
individual quarters or on composite milk samples
■ Simple, inexpensive, rapid screening test for mastitis
■ CMT is accurate on cow’s and goat’s milk
■ Leucocyte (white blood cells) numbers greatly increase in number when an injury or infection
affects mammary tissue
CMT Procedure
■ Step 1: Take about ½ to 1 teaspoon milk from each quarter. This is the amount of milk that
would be left in the cups if the CMT Paddle were held nearly vertical.
■ Step 2: Add an equal amount of CMT solution to each cup in the paddle.
■ Step 3: Rotate the CMT Paddle in a circular motion to thoroughly mix the contents. Do not
mix more than 10 seconds.
■ Step 4: “Read” the test quickly. Visible reaction disintegrates after about 20 seconds.
■ Wash the udder with 3 percent KMnO4 before and after milking
■ Wash the animal completely with 3 percent KMnO4 once in a week
■ Trisodium citrate – Oral dose of 30 grams in 250 ml of water, daily for three days (safe,
economical, no withdrawal periods and no hazards from residual problems in milk and meat)
■ Teat dips (Iodophore 0.0-1 percent available iodine; 30 seconds contact time)
■ Home made dips: 20 drops lavender oil + 10 drops tea tree oil + 2 table spoon soap solution
■ Personal hygiene
→ Clean hands
→ Nail clipped while milking
■ Teat dips are drugs that are applied to the teats of lactating animals immediately following
milking and removal of the milking machine to control the spread of mastitis
■ Teat dip should cover atleast half area of each teat
Intra-mammary infusion products
■ PENDISTRIN – SH
■ COLIMAST
■ INFLAMIN VET CREAM
■ MASTILEP HERBAL GEL
■ WISPREC SPRAY
■ MAMMIDIUM POWDER
■ MASTICARE POWDER
Colibacillosis- White scour in calves
■ Seen in very young calf (1-3 weeks old) scouring, weakness,
and prostration.
■ In less acute case, calf is listless, fails to suckle and develop
diarrhoea.
■ Swelling at joints and pneumonia in a few cases.
■ High temperature initially, shows abdominal pain, faeces
loose in consistency containing mucous and blood,
weakness, fall in temperature, coma and death
■ Fluid therapy, antibiotic therapy depending on the result of
antibiotic sensitivity test.
■ Calf should be kept in hygienic environment.
■ Vaccination of pregnant cows
Tetanus
■ Clostridium tetani
■ All animals
■ Symptoms similar in all animals:
mild stiffness, unwillingness to move, last for 12-24 hours.
■ General stiffness of limbs,
■ Head, neck and tail becomes rigid, tremor with restriction of jaw
movement (locked jaw), anxious and alert expression, erect
carriage of ears, absence of movement of eye lid, staring look,
dilatation of nostril, drooling of saliva, constipation, retention of
urine, temperature and pulse normal, bloat early sign in cattle,
sweating may be profuse
■ Tetanus toxoid injections
■ Chance of recovery is high in cattle and dim in horse and
sheep.
■ Vaccination
Swine erysipelas
■ Erysepelothrix rhusiopathiae
■ Pigs
■ In acute form, high fever, conjunctivitis, prostration, vomiting,
constipation and then diarrhoea.
■ Pink discolouration of the skin at the base of the ear, abdomen
and thigh. Knee joint hot and painful.
■ Urticarial form: milder than acute, diamond shaped areas develop
on the skin followed by necrosis and sloughing of skin.
■ Chronic form: seen in those which survive the acute and
urticarial form: endocarditis and arthritis, difficulty to move
and signs of dyspnoea.
■ Vaccination, antibiotics
Contagious caprine pleuro pneumonia
(CCPP)
■ Mycoplasma carpricolum subsp capripneumonia
■ Goat and sheep
■ Rise in body temperature (410C) mucopurulent nasal discharge,
coughing, laboured respiration, salivation, diarrhoea and loss of
weight.
■ Abortion in pregnant animals.
■ Mortality very high.
■ Some cases arthritis with swelling of leg joints, lameness,
oedematous swelling in head, neck and limbs
■ Vaccination effective
