Major diseases affecting goats depending upon the causal organisms are classified as (A) bacterial diseases, (B) viral diseases, (c) metabolic diseases, and (d) parasitic diseases
In this article, we will discuss the various bacterial diseases that affect goats and we will take forward the discussion to the remedy of those diseases :
Bacterial diseases
Any disease caused by the invasion of the body by a bacterium is a bacterial disease. Bacteria may enter the body alone or the following insult to tissue either by viral infection trauma. or stress. Most of these diseases can be controlled by adopting antibiotic therapy.
1. Anthrax
Anthrax is also called splenic fever and is a very serious disease of animals including goats. It is marked by high fever, severe depression, dark red to the purple lining of the mouth and eyes, and sometimes bloody diarrhea. Breathing is rapid and shallow, the heartbeat is rapid and weak. The goat has no appetite and its milk or urine is red or blood -tinged. The tongue, throat. flanks, and area around the anus and vulva show swelling (edema).
In the dead animal, it is common to observe blood seeping from the body openings and a lack of stiffness in the carcass. If death by anthrax is suspected, do not open the carcass (dead animal). Rather, remove one of the goat's carcasses, place it in a plastic bag (cooled if possible) and take it to a veterinarian for a diagnosis.
This disease is caused by Bacillus anthracis. The spores of this organism are swallowed by the animal, which changes to the vegetative form and starts growing.
The disease spreads through contaminated feed, water, pasture or through the by-products obtained from an affected animal. The disease in goats is usually peracute (kills the animal in 2 to 6 hours) or in the acute form, which takes up to 48 hours for death.
After the symptoms are fully developed, treatment is usually not effective. If an outbreak is underway, all other animals in the area should be treated and vaccinated. Treatment with tetracyclines or penicillin in large doses in proper time may save the animal.
Spread can be prevented by burning or burying the unopened dead body. If the dead body of an animal killed by anthrax is buried unopened, rotting and lack of oxygen will prevent spore formation and kill the organism. Totally burning the dead body will also destroy the organisms. Vaccination is recommended for animals in areas where anthrax occurs regularly.
2. Brucellosis
Brucellosis is also called Dang's disease or Matta fever or contagious abortion. Affected goats show only vague symptoms including occasional mastitis, lameness of feet, or slightly loose stool. Does may abort in the final 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy. The male may show swollen joints or testicles. A blood test is the best method of diagnosing brucellosis in goats, which is usually done by a veterinarian or in a diagnostic laboratory.
The causal organism is Brucella melitensis which affect goats. The disease spreads when goats eat contaminated feed or lick infected secretions from the reproductive organs of the infected doe. This disease also is transmitted to humans, either through infected milk or handling during the birth process.
To control this, no effective treatment exists. Usual recommendations are that infected dos and their kids are slaughtered for meat. The best prevention is not to buy infected animals. In some countries where the infection is common, a vaccine is used to control the spread of the disease.
3. Caseous lymphadenitis
This disease is also known as pseudotuberculosis or abscesses. Swollen, abscessed lymph nodes occur most commonly under the jaw and ear, in front of the shoulder, high in the flank, or above the udder, scrotum or hock. The nodes may feel warm and may swell to 3 to 5 cm or larger. The disease is seldom fatal. The abscesses contain a characteristic cheesy, greenish -colored pus. Diagnosis is based on the locations of the abscesses, the character of the pus, and microscopic culture examination if available. This is a very common disease in agriculturally developed countries.
This is normally contracted when goats eat contaminated feeds. It might also be contracted through wounds in the skin.
Abscesses are treated by surgical lancing or total removal by a veterinarian. Additional treatment by administering antibiotics, usually penicillin or tetracycline, should be continued for 3 to 5 days. This disease is difficult to prevent due to the fact that Corynebacterium (causal organism) is a very common soil contaminant. Spread can be slowed by carefully lancing abscesses and washing the wound with 7% iodine. All material from the abscess should be deeply buried or burned. A vaccine made from the organism of an infected herd has been reported as a successful prevention procedure.
4. Chlamydial abortion
Abortion occurs late in pregnancy (usually one of the first three pregnancies). Later on, deliveries are normal. Kids may be carried to full term but delivered still born (sometimes as a mummified foetus) or in a weakened condition. The doe seldom suffers any after-effect unless she gets a uterin infection from a retained foetus or after-birth. Large numbers of does in newly infested herds abort. Chlamydial abortion can be positively diagnosed only by culture of the aborted foetus or membranes or by a blood test done in a laboratory.
The chlamydial abortion organism is more common in sheep but has also been reported to cause severe outbreaks of abortion among goats. It is thought that females or offspring may become infected by swallowing the organisms during the kidding season, with the organism delaying growth in the doe until late in the following pregnancy.
The use of tetracycline given intramuscularly for 5 to 7 days has been reported to help in decreasing the number of abortions by reducing the spread of the organism to uninfected goats. Feeding oral tetracycline at 110 to 165 g/metric tonne or 110 to 165 mg/kg of feed also helps to control this disease. The foetus already infected, however, will abort regardless of treatments. The best way to keep the disease from spreading is to buy or bury the dead kid and tissues from the birth process, and to isolate aborting does from the rest of the herd. In some countries, a vaccine has been developed that seems to work quite well when given one month before breeding of goats.
5. Colibacillosis
Other names of this disease are scoured diarrhoea, white scours, yellow scours, etc. Severe depression, weakness, and watery diarrhoea are symptoms of colibacillosis. Rapid dehydration is evidenced by skin that stays up when pinched and the eyes sinking into the head. Skin is cold and clammy. Many causes of scours in kids can have the same or similar symptoms. Kids die quickly unless lost fluids and electrolytes (body salts) are restored. Diagnosis is based on the symptoms and can be confirmed by laboratory culture procedure.
The bacterium Escherichia coli causes the disease in young kids (newly born to 2 weeks) and is usually related to dirty surroundings. Outbreaks rapidly worsen unless strict sanitation procedures are begun. The organism is taken in by mouth, usually after birth. Lack of adequate colostrum usually contributes to colibacillosis.
Replace fluid loss, correct electrolyte balance and kill the organism with antibiotics. Give the kid an oral antibiotic, such as neomycin, spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, or a sulfa drug at about 5-10 mg/kg of body weight, twice a day.
Kids are born with no immunity and must be fed colostrum from their mothers to become resistant to diseases. Feeding the' kid well with colostrum before it is 2 hours old will protect it until it is old enough to build its own disease defense mechanism. After the first 12 hours of life, the kid's ability to absorb these antibodies decreases, and is totally resistant by the time the kid is 24 hours old. Hygienic surroundings are also important to prevent this disease. Kids should be born in clean or unused areas and should be kept warm and dry.
6. Contagious agalactia
Symptoms of this disease are fever and loss of appetite. Other symptoms may include (1) acute mastitis exhibited as a hot, painful udder producing a greenish-colored. Cheesy, puslike material (chunks) and a watery fluid with the udder drying up in long term cases: (2) a cloudy cornea of the eye that may proceed to an ulcer and blindness although complete recovery usually occurs quickly, and (3) an arthritic form with hot painful swollen joints.
Contagious agalactia is a disease of sheep and goats caused by Mycoplasma agalactia. The organism is found in milk, urine, feces, eye, and nasal fluids for several months after infection. Spreading may occur when a healthy goat contacts these secretions.
Helpful antibiotics are tetracycline or tylosin which are given intramuscularly. The death rate can reach 20% of the infected animals. A vaccine is available in some countries.
Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia
Severe pneumonia symptoms may involve only one lung. Exposed animals may become sick and a high percentage of them die. Recovery requires a long time. Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia is caused by Mycoplasma spp. and is common in Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean and has also been reported in Mexico. The disease is spread by contact.
Early treatment with tetracyclines or tylosin will help to reduce death loss in infected animals. Prevention by vaccines is usually available in countries where this disease is found.
8. Footrot
Lameness is the first symptom of foot rot. The sole and the sidewall of the diseased foot appear ragged and rotten and have an extremely bad odor.
This disease is caused by the invasion of two bacteria. Fusobacterium necrophorus and Fusiformis nodosus the disease is usually spread from infected carrier animals into the soil and then to the non-infected feet.
Remove the dead, rotten foot tissues with shears or a sharp knife. Trim down until healthy tissue is found. Some bleeding will occur. This is necessary to remove the diseased tissue. Spray the area with a solution of chloramphenicol or 10% formalin, or force the animals to walk through a 10% formalin, copper sulphate or zinc sulphate foot bath.
The best method of prevention is to remove animals from dirty and wet areas for about 4 weeks. Regular trimming of the feet also helps prevent this and other foot problems.
9. Johne's disease
This is a very serious disease of animals including sheep and goats. It is also known as paratuberculosis or wasting disease. Johne's disease is usually seen in animals, 3 to 5 years old. Symptoms include progressive loss of weight rough hair coat decrease of milk production, decreased appetite, and progressive depression. Diarrhoea will develop within the last few days before death. The organism affects the area where the small and large intestine join together and interferes with the ability of the goat to absorb nutrients from the intestine. Usually, only a few goats in the herd are involved.
The disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium johnei is believed to spread through feed contaminated with the organism and occurs before the goat is 6 months old. There is some evidence that kids can be born with the disease or pick it up from the doe's or faecal contamination on the udder.
There is no effective treatment. Diagnosis can be made in a laboratory by finding and growing the organism. The IV John test can be run in the field but requires some knowledge of the procedure and of how to make white blood cell count.
As a preventive measure, buy healthy animals and remove infected goats from the herd. Spread can be reduced by avoiding stress on we animal.
10. Listeriosis
The disease can only be diagnosed by growing the organism from we aborted foetus in the laboratory. The nervous or encephalitic form has a rapid course and causes death in 4 to 48 hours after symptoms appear. Symptoms include circling in one direction, high fever, lack of appetite, red tissues around we eyes (maybe with blindness) and depression.
Affected animals may have paralysis of one side of the face, represented by a drooping ear, drooping eyelid, and saliva running from limp lips. Up to 20% of the goats in a herd may be involved. When dying the animal will be down and may have fits. Confirming diagnosis can only be made in a diagnostic laboratory.
Listeriosis is caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes and is commonly seen in cooler climates. The bacteria are very hardy and are found in soil, silage, manure, milk; urine, and drainage of we eye and nose of infected animals. Listeriosis is spread when goats swallow, inhale or infect weir eyes. The route by which it spreads can influence the symptoms, for example, infection through the eye or nose usually results in the nervous form. In developing countries, it is most commonly seen when silage is put up too dry, not compacted tight enough to protect it from the air.
There are no effective treatments for small ruminants, and they usually die after infection. Large doses of penicillin may help in some cases. When an outbreak occurs, one should isolate infected animals. If silage is being fed, discontinue.
