Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Enteritis in Neonatal and Juvenile Ruminants.

Common causes of infectious enteritis in neonate and juvenile ruminants include viral, bacterial, and protozoal pathogens. The most common presenting sign in ruminants with infectious enteritis is diarrhea. Diagnosis of the cause of enteritis has important zoonotic and herd health implications. Severity of clinical signs with similar pathogens may differ between calves and small ruminants. Treatment of enteritis involves supportive care to correct fluid and electrolyte imbalances, provision of nutritional support for neonates, prevention and treatment of endotoxemia or sepsis, and pathogen-specific treatments when relevant and available

Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus in Heilongjiang Province, China, 2014

During March 25–May 5, 2014, we investigated 11 outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants in Heilongjiang Province, China. We found that the most likely source of the outbreaks was animals from livestock markets in Shandong. Peste des petits ruminants viruses belonging to lineages II and IV were detected in sick animals

Peste des Petits Ruminants infection among cattle and wildlife in Northern Tanzania

We investigated peste des petits ruminants (PPR) infection in cattle and wildlife in northern Tanzania. No wildlife from protected ecosystems were seropositive. However, cattle from villages where an outbreak had occurred among small ruminants showed high PPR seropositivity, indicating that spillover infection affects cattle. Thus, cattle could be of value for PPR serosurveillance

Superoxide Dismutase Activity within Caribou Serum as an Indicator of Copper Status

Copper concentrations measured in liver are the gold standard for evaluating the copper status of ruminants. For live ruminants, measuring copper status is problematic because serum copper concentrations fluctuate and are not consistently correlated to liver copper values. In an attempt to establish an accurate evaluation of copper status from serum in caribou, we examined the correlation between liver copper concentrations and superoxide dismutase (SOD), which uses the oxidation and reduction reactions of a bound copper ion in order to catalyze superoxide radicals. Our study focuses on SOD activity in the serum of 16 individual adult female caribou and compares that to known copper levels within the liver. Determining copper levels in ruminants has proven difficult and currently a true proxy to determine liver copper levels in a live animal is unknown

Wild ruminants as reservoirs of domestic livestock gastrointestinal T nematodes

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections in cattle cause appetite suppression which leads to poor feed conversion, reduced weight gain and reduced milk production. Overuse and exclusive reliance on anthelmintic drugs has resulted in widespread resistance in many parasitic nematode species infecting livestock making control increasingly difficult. Wild ruminants are competent hosts of a number of nematode species that typically infect and are best adapted for cattle, sheep, and goats. Thus, the potential exists for wild ruminants to act as reservoirs in the translocation of domestic GIN, including those carrying anthelmintic resistance mutations as well as susceptible genotypes. The potential for parasite exchange is heightened by interfaces or ecotones between managed and wild rangelands, and by perturbations linked to climate warming that can increasingly alter the distributions of wild ungulates and their interactions with domestic and free-ranging ruminants. To investigate the extent to which wild ruminants harbour parasites capable of infecting domestic ruminants we first performed an epidemiological study of feces from wildlife hosts that spanned 16 states and included white-tailed deer (85 % of the samples), pronghorn, elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, moose, cattle, and caribou across the United States. All samples were cultured to third stage larvae and nematode DNA was isolated and PCR amplified. Among the 548 wild ruminant samples received, 33 % (181 samples) were positive for nematode DNA, among which half (84 samples) contained DNA from GIN species commonly found in cattle. DNA from cattle GIN species was detected in 46 % of samples from the Northeast, 42 % from the Southeast, 10 % from the Midwest, 0 % from the Southwest and 11 % from the West. Deep amplicon sequencing of the ITS-2 rDNA indicated that Ostertagia and Trichostrongylus were present in 90 % and 69 % of the nematode DNA positive samples, respectively, whereas Haemonchus, Cooperia and Oesophagostomum were present in 26 %, 2 % and 10 % of the samples, respectively. These data clearly show that wild ruminants commonly harbour multiple parasite species whose primary hosts are domestic cattle, and suggest that further work is warranted to investigate their specific roles in the management of anthelmintic resistance

Nematode control in 'green' ruminant production systems

Collectively, nematode parasites of domestic ruminants continue to pose the greatest disease problem in grazing livestock systems worldwide, despite the powerful and extensive chemotherapeutic arsenal available for their control. The widespread development of anthelmintic resistance, particularly in nematode parasites of small ruminants, and the trend towards nonchemical (ecological, organic, green) farming of livestock has provided an impetus for the research and development of alternative parasite control methods. This article provides a brief overview of the non-chemotherapeutic options for parasite control and how they might play a role either in organic farming or in other low-input farming systems

Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Enteritis in Adult Ruminants.

Infectious enteritis in adult ruminants is often a result of 1 or more viral, bacterial, or parasitic pathogens. Diagnosis of etiologic agents causing enteritis is important when considering herd implications and zoonotic potential of some etiologies. Differential diagnoses for enteritis in adult ruminants is not simple based on clinical signs alone. Diagnostic samples include feces, blood, and antemortem and postmortem tissues. Treatment of infectious enteritis is aimed at correcting dehydration and electrolyte imbalances secondary to diarrhea. In cases of some bacterial and parasitic pathogens, additional targeted treatment and control are recommended. Management of enteritis may be instituted while awaiting laboratory test results