Sheep diseases and their treatment
Sheep disease prevention:
Sheep wealth is considered one of the most important branches of livestock from an economic point of view in the Syrian Arab country, as it depends on it in the production of meat, wool, milk and leather.
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Sheep diseases and their treatment |
In order to increase the productivity of this wealth, it must be preserved from the danger of epidemics and deadly animal diseases and prevented from infection by applying the annual periodic preventive programs and vaccinating sheep with protective vaccines according to the approved programs for each vaccine and combating internal and external parasites in a programmed manner preventively and curatively, and securing fodder rich in nutrients (protein, starches) Minerals, vitamins...).
Providing clean water sources to water these sheep wherever they are, as most sheep diseases are collective diseases and prevention is better than cure.
In the following, we will review briefly the most important diseases that affect sheep and their prevention.
First: Communicable Diseases in Sheep:
1- Anthrax:
is a disease; An acute infection that affects all wild and domestic animals, and humans also get infected with it, and it is caused by a germ called Baeilles anthracis, and the soil of the earth is the natural reservoir for this microbe, as it spores and lives for a long time and for several years and causes great losses; As a result of the sudden death of sheep.
Pathological symptoms:
The disease appears in sheep in two cases:
1- Without visible local injuries.
2- By the appearance of visible local injuries:
The first case: the course of the disease (internal and intestinal) and appears in several forms:
1- The very acute form, the course of the disease is very short.
2- Acute form – the period of the disease from a few hours to a few days
3- Subacute form - the period of illness from one to two days
The second case: It appears in the form of external swellings and dropsy of the skin area, and the disease lasts from 5-7 days.
The common pathological conditions among sheep and goats are acute and supraacute. Which causes sudden death without any clinical symptoms characteristic of the disease.
The color of the blood is coal-black, and it slows to clot. After the death of the animal, it swells quickly, and bloody discharges are observed from the natural openings (mouth, nose, anus).
A characteristic histopathological symptom of anthrax is an enlarged spleen.
protection:
The most important measures to prevent anthrax disease is preventive immunization against the disease by vaccinating sheep with the preventive vaccine annually. Securing clean water sources for watering sheep.
When infected with the disease, it is forbidden to slaughter animals and use them for human consumption, and the bodies must be burned and buried, and not left on the surface of the soil.
2- Gastrointestinal septicemia:
A SARS disease that affects sheep and is caused by toxins secreted from pathogenic germs that are present in the intestines and after they are absorbed throughout the animal body. Where group Cb, Perfringens causes bloody enteroxemia in sheep and dysentery of lambs in young newborns.
The disease results in great economic losses because it causes the sudden death of the best sheep in the herd, especially the sheep, and there is no room for the use of treatments, as the disease is fulminant in most cases.
Pathological symptoms:
Sudden death, convulsions, high fever before death, and sometimes bloody diarrhea. Among the most important anatomical symptoms are the accumulation of bloody fluids in the abdominal pelvis and around the heart. We notice a yellow liquid that, when exposed to the outside air, coagulates in the form of (gelatin). The intestines are inflamed and congested, and the gallbladder is full and large.
protection:
One of the most important preventive measures is the preventive immunization against the disease before it occurs and according to the instructions of the vaccine used, as there are many sources of manufacturing vaccines against enterotroxemia.
Sheep must be treated against internal parasites (gastrointestinal - tapeworm) and liver, since these parasites help to infect the disease and prevent sheep from moving from one diet to another suddenly. It is recommended to use the daily gradual change of feed.
3- Sheeppox:
A communicable viral disease that affects sheep and is characterized by the appearance of skin eruptions in hairless areas such as under the buttocks, thighs, and on the head as well, and leads to great losses.
Pathological symptoms:
The incubation period in this disease is from (4-12) days, after which the animal's body temperature rises from 41-42 degrees Celsius, and tear-ocular and nasal mucosal discharges appear, the eyebrows swell, the mucous membranes are engorged, the general condition of the animal is bad, and it refuses to eat feed, and then the characteristic skin eruptions of the disease appear. Smallpox.
protection:
1- Vaccination of the herd annually with a protective vaccine.
2- Isolate infected sheep from healthy sheep.
3- Providing good food and clean water for animals.
4- Disposing of dead bodies by burning and burying them.
4- Foot and mouth disease:
A communicable viral disease that affects hoofed animals and is characterized by the appearance of ulcers on the oral mucosa, on the lips, on the udder, and in the area between the hooves.
And it leads to great losses as a result of the death of young newborns and decreased production in adult animals.
This disease is transmitted to humans as well.
Pathological symptoms:
The infection with foot and mouth disease of sheep is characterized by the appearance of sores and infections in the shadow area, and rarely the oral mucosa is affected, and this leads to lameness for a period of (3-5) days.
protection:
There is no cure for the disease, but it is possible to use some medicinal substances to lubricate the areas of inflammation and ulcers resulting from it, in order to help in their recovery. It is advised to follow the following to prevent this disease:
1- Taking care of feeding the herd, providing it with a good diet, and securing clean water.
2- Keeping the herd away from disease-infested areas.
3- Separating sheep from cows and not raising them together.
4- Vaccination of animals against local strains of the disease with a preventive vaccine.
5- Isolate infected animals from healthy ones
6- Technical disposal of dead bodies.
5- Tuberculosis (John's disease):
A chronic communicable disease that affects sheep and is characterized by inflammation of the intestines in the animal and leads to very important economic losses as a result of emaciation that affects sick animals and the resulting decrease in the production of meat, milk and wool.
Pathological symptoms:
The incubation period of the disease lasts up to a year. The disease usually affects adult sheep, especially after two or three calving. The most important symptoms of the disease are as follows:
1- Severe diarrhea at times and in general, sheep dung is not lumpy and soft.
2- Gradual weight loss while retaining the ability to eat feed.
3- The wool falls off after it becomes dry
4- Swelling is observed in the head, lips and nose
5- Sheep die in the last stages of the disease.
protection:
1- Veterinary medical examination of sheep entering the herd
2- Providing good fodder for sheep that contains sufficient quantities of protein, carotene, lime, phosphorus and salt.
3- Adding mineral salts to the diet containing (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, cobalt, iodine, and zinc).
4- Monitoring the herd permanently, isolating the infected animal and informing the veterinarian to make the correct diagnosis. In the event that the infection is confirmed, the sick animal is isolated and slaughtered immediately and inside the facility.
5- Conducting a tuberculin test (avian tuberculosis) to find out the general status of the disease in the herd, isolate the positive, and ensure that it has a pathological, bacterial, and histological laboratory diagnosis.
6- Infected herds must be grazed in places isolated from healthy herds, and these herds should not be watered from public water sources so as not to contaminate them and transfer the infection to healthy sheep.
7- Not to raise infected sheep with cows to avoid transmitting the infection to them, as the disease is transmitted from sheep to cows and vice versa.
8- The protective vaccine can be used to immunize healthy and threatened flocks.
6- Brucellose:
A communicable disease that affects animals and humans and is caused by a group of germs called Brucella.
1- The causative agent of brucellosis in sheep, goats and humans.
2- The cause of brucellosis in cows.
3- The cause of brucellosis in pigs.
The Br. Melitensis is very dangerous for humans because it is infected with the disease and transmitted by sheep and goats.
Pathological symptoms:
When the infection is transmitted to the animal's body, signs of fatigue appear after 3-4 days of infection, and the temperature rises to (40.5-41), after which the body returns to the normal state, and the disease proceeds chronically and without any symptoms.
The disease appears mainly in pregnant sheep, where they suffer from miscarriage, at a rate of 20-60% of the herd, and in the month (4-5) of pregnancy. In some cases, abortion occurs before this date, or the animal gives birth at the appropriate time, but the fetus is either dead or unable to live. It is spent a day or two after birth.
And because of brucellosis, sheep get arthritis and mastitis as well, and abortion occurs in the event of infection with the disease in the first or first and second pregnancy, after which pregnancy takes place naturally.
protection :
1- Preventive vaccination against the disease with a protective vaccine
2- Isolate the infected from the healthy in the infected herds and follow the veterinary health conditions to secure safe and uncontaminated fodder and water.
3- Raising the newborns independently of the mothers
4- Conducting periodic tests to detect the disease.
5- There are other measures to combat the disease that differ from one country to another.
Second: Parasitic diseases in sheep:
1- External parasites in sheep:
They are many, and they intrude on sheep and lead to great economic losses as a result of the damage they cause to the animal’s skin and wool, loss of weight, and the diseases they transmit that are dangerous to the life of the animal. Among these parasites that infect sheep:
1- ticks
2- Heads of scabies
3- Lice
4- Flies, the most important of which is the gnat, whose larvae are located in the nasal sinuses and are called (nasal) or under the skin and are called (cutaneous).
The ticks that parasitize animals transmit many diseases, the most important of which are:
piroplasmosis:
This disease is called colloquially (rubella) and this disease is characterized by the destruction of red blood cells in the animal's blood and bloody urination. Scabies mites cause scabies, which is known and characterized by skin infections and severe itching. Or the fly fly, which causes sinusitis in sheep as a result of the fly larvae being placed inside these pockets and developing there. As for cutaneous aphids, it causes inflammation of the skin and the subcutaneous area due to the placement of larvae in the subcutaneous area, and then openings occur in it and exit, and this leads to the destruction of sheep skins and the reduction of its price as a result of the damage it causes.
Control of external parasites in sheep:
It is done using veterinary insecticides by dipping, spraying, washing (manual infusion) or fogging the animals according to the ratios recommended by the pesticide manufacturer.
2- Internal parasites in sheep:
The internal parasites in sheep are divided into the following:
1- Liverworms
2- Intestinal worms
3- Tapeworms
4- Lungworms
It is a major problem for sheep due to its prevalence and infection of most animals with one or more parasites. These parasites cause significant damage:
A - The death of lean sheep
b- The effect on animal resistance to bacterial and viral diseases and their types.
C - the great economic loss as a result of the decrease in milk, meat and wool.
D - the effect on the level of fertilization in the herd.
Prevention and control:
The use of periodic preventive and curative control by using specific drugs against various types of worms that infect sheep, according to the instructions of the veterinarian, and improving the general condition of the herd by securing good food and pure and clean water.
Third: Malnutrition Diseases in Sheep:
1- Vitamin A deficiency:
Due to the dependence of sheep farming on the desert pastures and the environmental conditions of our region, the sheep do not have sufficient green fodder throughout the year, and this leads to insufficient vitamin A for the animals, and this causes the following:
A - Poor fertilization in sheep, and thus the percentage of pregnancy in the herd decreases.
B - Night blindness as a result of injury to the cornea of the eye and its opacity and increased tear secretion.
C - Swelling and stiffness of the legs and disorder of the animal's movement.
d- Abortions
C - Low level of immunity in the animal's body and its immediate exposure to viral and bacterial diseases.
protection :
1- Providing green fodder continuously to the animals
2- In the absence of green fodder, vitamin A must be provided to the animal through drinking water, in addition to fodder, by intramuscular injection, or by adding fish oil to the diet.
2- Undernourishment:
The starvation of sheep in years of drought and the lack of good pastures causes the animals to emaciate and spend the nutrients stored inside the body until they become unable to move. Abdominal atrophy, bone protrusion, and eye drop in the eye socket are noted.
And the lack of nutrition leads to weak body resistance and infection with various diseases, and to prevent hunger disease, additional fodder must be provided to sheep in cases of lack of natural pastures, and salts and mineral elements must be added to these feeds.
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