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COLLECTION: GOAT HANDBOOK
ORIGIN: United States
DATE INCLUDED: June 1992
Extension Goat Handbook
This material was contributed from
collections at the National Agricultural Library.
However, users should direct all inquires about the
contents to authors or originating agencies.
DOCN 000000058
NO G-4
DIARRHEAL DISEASES
J. L. Ayers; Los Olivos, CA.
S. B. Guss; Pennsylvania State U., University Park
Health and Disease Management
1 Diarrheal diseases are common
in newborn kids, as they are in calves, lambs and
piglets. It is the authors impression that these diseases
are continuously present (endemic) in fewer goat herds
and the morbidity, severity and mortality are lower
in goats than in newborn calves, piglets and probably
lambs. The most severe diarrheal diseases are colibacillosis
and salmonellosis. In calves, these two are also the
most common whereas less severe, non-specific causes
of diarrhea may predominate in kids. The discussion
which follows will pertain mostly to colibacillosis
and salmonellosis; some of what is said will be the
result of extrapolation from calves and sheep and
some will be from the very few reports and experience
on goats.
2 Transmission The primary source
of infection is feces of infected animals and transmission
is by ingestion. The propensity of young kids to nurse
objects especially just after being bottle fed and
their inate curiosity, often satisfied by mouth, make
them easy prey for infection. All objects which can
be contaminated by feces are potential transmitting
agents including bedding, pails, nipples, clothing,
tools, feed, water and the skin of the udder and perineum
of the mother. The organisms are often ingested within
minutes after birth. The more intense the management
system and dense the population the more heavily contaminated
the environment becomes.
3 Salmonellosis may have the additional
source of infection; that is, the mother herself may
be a latent (inapparent) carrier. In the latter case
shedding the organism is precipitated by the stress
of kidding.
4 Salmonellosis Probably most species
of the genus Salmonella (S.) are capable of producing
enteric disease in farm animals. S. typhimurium is
the most common of the genus in goats and cattle in
the USA but the incidence of S. dublin infection has
increased dramatically in cattle in the Western United
States. S. dublin is much more likely than S. typhimurium
to form a latent carrier state by quietly residing
in the lymph nodes and tonsils of cattle, only to
emerge, produce disease and transmit infection during
time of stress such as calving. S. typhimurim is more
likely to subside after initial exposure and to recur
only when the source of infection reappears.
5 Reports of the disease in goats
are sparse, therefore the following generalizations
may not be valid. However, S. typhimurium seems to
affect any age goat with a short, fatal course and
is highly contagious. S. dublin may be less contagious
and infected goats seem more apt to recover.
6 Clinical Signs -- The peracute
case is found dead without previous signs and is most
frequent in the newlyborn. The acute form has been
reported in 2-4 week old kids with a high morbidity
and mortality (32 of 35 animals dying) and in adults
over 1 year old. First there is a profuse, watery,
(the fecal consistency may be more like paste or putty
with S. dublin) yellow diarrhea; this is rapidly followed
by depression, rapid dehydration and weakness. Some
die in 8-12 hours, most in 24-48 hours and a few live
for a week. The temperature may reach 106-108 but
often returns to normal or subnormal near death.
7 Tissue Changes -- Post mortem findings
are often not striking. The peracute case may have
excess fluid in the abdominal (peritoneal) cavity
and heart sac (pericardial space); there may be tiny
(petecchial) hemorrhages in various parts of the body
especially around the heart, the middle small intestine
may fill with gas, contain some fluid and have a thin
wall.
8 Acute cases will have mild to moderate
inflammation (reddening) of the inner lining (mucosa),
and less frequently hemorrhagic enteritis will be
present. The outer surface of the intestine and linings
of the body cavities (serosa) will likely have petechial
hemorrhage. The messenteric lymph nodes are usually
enlarged, wet and when cut have a soft consistency.
In animals that live longer, the liver will appear
enlarged, have rounded edges and often the gall bladder
is full. Only rarely will the intestinal mucosa show
varying degrees of erosion or ulceration. Increased
volume of amber joint fluid with or without white
fibrinous clots or casts are not an uncommon finding
in the joints of longer lasting acute cases.
9 Diagnosis -- Signs will mimic colibacillosis,
coccidiosis, certain parasite infestations and enterotoxemia;
tissue changes are also nonspecific. It is important
to conduct a necropsy examination on the first as
well as all animals dying. It is equally important
to attempt isolating the causative organism at least
from the intestinal contents, the messenteric lymph
nodes and the liver. A diagnosis of Salmonellosis
is important because it will indicate the need to
concentrate more on prevention than on drug therapy.
However most laboratories will not be able to type
the species of Salmonella that was isolated. It is
important that this be done, however, and for this
purpose the isolate can be sent to the National Animal
Disease Center in Ames, Iowa via your regional Federal
Veterinarian's Office.
10 Prevention and Treatment -- The
few reports of Salmonellosis in goats have been very
discouraging regarding prevention and treatment. However,
the strict management practices employed in well run
cow dairies should always be followed and should help
keep Salmonellosis at a low level.
11 Prevention and fluid therapy will
be discussed as a separate section because it applies
to all enteric and many other diseases. Management
practices that prevent or reduce the amount of exposure
to Salmonella sp. is the only real hope of control
for an endemic herd. The following treatment recommendations
are made with the reservation that they are often
not successful.
12 Chloramphenicol is a drug that
is not cleared for use in goats and should only be
given under veterinary prescription. It is inactivated
by a functioning rumen and should therefore not be
given orally to the kid that has started to eat roughage
in any significant quantity. However, it is often
the only drug to which the organism is sensitive.
Trimethoprim-sulfadoxine combinations and nitrofurans
have been successfully used in calves and systemic
Salmonellosis will sometimes respond to ampicillin.
13 Dehydration and acidosis should
be combated with oral, intravenous or subcutaneous
administration of fluids, electrolytes and energy
as will be discussed later.
14 Colibacillosis The bacterium Escherichia
coli (E. coli) has several serotypes, most of which
are normal nonpathogenic inhabitants of the gastro-intestinal
tract. There are pathogenic serotypes, however; some
of these are capable of gaining entrance to the body
(septicemic form) through the intestinal wall, others
remain in the intestinal tract and liberate a toxin
which is absorbed by the body and causes generalized
disease and diarrhea (enterotoxogenic form). A milder
enteric form, without signs of toxemia but causing
diarrhea, is a third and intermediate form. Colibacillosis
is a disease of very young animals usually 2-10 days
old.
15 Clinical Signs -- The septicemic
form usually occurs in the first 4 days of life and
when there has been no absorption of colostral antibodies.
The animal is depressed, weak, anorectic (won't eat),
the temperature is elevated early but drops below
normal when the animal becomes weak and goes down.
Diarrhea is not common. Death usually occurs in 2
days. Animals surviving for a week may show signs
of the organism localizing in the joints, brain, eyes
or lungs. The septicemic form is the most common form
in lambs and is usually peracute. The same may be
true in kids. ++++MISSING DATA++++
16 The most important factor in determining
an animal's ability to survive colibacillosis is the
serum immunoglobulin level before the animal develops
the disease. Antibiotic therapy may help animals with
marginal to adequate serum antibody levels but are
probably of no value in helping the agammaglobulinemic
(no immunoglobulin in the serum) animal.
17 Prevention of Colibacillosis and
Salmonellosis Newborn ruminants are born with antibodies
against various disease producing microorganisms (germs).
These antibodies are proteins called immunoglobins.
A newborn kid receives all of its protection (immunoglobulins)
against germs as a result of drinking the colostrum
milk produced by its mother. Milk of the very first
milking contains many times more antibodies than does
that of the second and later milkings. Further the
intestinal tracts of the newborn can absorb the antibodies
at maximum rate only during the first 12 hours of
life; absorption decreases rapidly from 12 to 36 hours
after which time no more are taken into the blood
stream. In addition to these circulating antibodies
there is another type (local antibodies) that attach
to the surface of the intestinal tract, are never
taken into the blood stream and do a certain amount
of bacterial neutralization from this position.
18 Thus, colostrum is the first essential
nutrient of the newborn. Without it, death of the
newborn can be assumed. As a rule of thumb, one ounce
of first milking colostrum per pound body weight (of
the kid) should be received by that kid in the first
8-12 hours of life. Ideally this would be given in
small quantities frequently. Removing the kid from
the mother immediately after kidding has two advantages.
First the udder can be cleaned prior to milking (this
should be done even if one insists on letting the
kid nurse) and the kid is removed from the relatively
early heavy exposure to pathogens. Second, by feeding
with a bottle, one will know how much colostrum is
taken by the kid and can force feed the amount not
voluntarily consumed. During the kidding season, extra
first milking co lostrum can be frozen in ice cube
trays, transferred to plastic bags for storage and
dispensed, thawed and fed as needed. Measure the size
of your cubes. They are probably 2/3 to 1 ounce each.
19 Housing is probably the next most
important consideration in the prevention of enteric
diseases of the newborn. Much of what will be suggested
may be impractical or at least not cost effective
under ordinary circumstances when there is no problem.
However, if an enteric problem becomes endemic in
a herd, some or all of these measures may need to
be taken regardless of inconvenience.
20 Before proceeding, however, two
observations are worth stating. Many times with any
adverse change in the health status of a herd or individual
(not limited to enteric problems) a manager will hesitate
or even refuse to make recommended changes on the
grounds that the management system has not changed
''for years'' so the system could not be contributory
to the sudden problem now being faced. One can often
and for a long time get by with slightly less than
optimum down to even poor management practices. For
reasons that often cannot be explained even by the
veterinarian, a variety of subtle adverse factors
will accumulate and finally culminate in an epizootic
of worrysome to severe proportions. This will usually
not be corrected by one step of managerial improvement,
rather drastic measures are usually required to reestablish
optimum health.
21 The second observation is especially
applicable to enteric diseases but applies to all
areas of health maintenance. One optimal management
has achieved good health maintenance, there is a strong
tendency to relax, take short cuts and save money.
This will result in a recurrence to suboptimum health
of the herd. Once can only hope that this change is
dramatic enough to be noticed and corrected. Unhappily
the dramatic change is often preceeded by a prolonged
period of gradually diminishing growth rate of kids
as well as decreased reproductive and productive capacity
of the adults.
22 Kids should be removed from their
mothers to a well cleaned, dry pen, free from drafts.
Newborn kids should have access to the warmth of a
heat lamp in cold weather (however, if the barn is
closed and heated, respiratory problems will likely
develop). Crowding should be avoided; ideally with
no direct contact with others. The kid pens should
be separate from the adult herd. Ideally different
personnel would be in charge of kid care than those
attending older and adult animals. An alternative
would be to care for the unweaned kids, then the weaned
kids, then milk and care for the adults.
23 After weaning the kids, pens should
be cleaned thoroughly by scraping, then detergent
and water, then disinfectant. The pens should be allowed
to dry, sprinkled with lime and left idle 2-4 weeks.
24 Feeders and waterers should be
constructed so as to always prevent their fecal contamination.
25 Fluid and Electrolyte Therapy
-- Much of the body's fluid and electrolytes (minerals
and other circulating chemicals necessary for normal
body function) are lost via the feces (manure or stool)
when an individual has diarrhea. When this loss occurs
at a rate that exceeds the replacement rate by the
milk or milk replacer, a condition referred to as
++++MISSING DATA++++
26 The kid with 8 0ehydration is
obviously depressed and eyes appear sunken. This can
occur within 12 hours of the time the appetite ceases.
Dehydration can preceed clinical diarrhea because
the fluid and electrolytes will have been leaving
the body and going into the intestinal tract (not
considered part of the body) during the 6 to 12 hour
period prior to clinical diarrhea. The 8 0ehydrated
animal should receive 150 ml intravenously over an
hour and an additional 300 ml subcutaneously of Ringers
bicarbonate with double the concentration of KC1,
NaHCO3 and Dextrose listed above.
27 The 10 0ehydrated kid is usually
down but can be made to stand and his legs are colder
than the rest of his body. The 12 0ehydration animals
is flat on his side, unable to stand. The prognosis
with this severe dehydration is rather poor. The fluid
therapy is conducted at the same rate but for longer
periods until desirable hydration is obtained.
28 When following any treatment,
check the animal in four to six hours and repeat fluid
therapy according to the degree of hydration at the
time.
29 After two days of oral electrolyte
therapy without milk or milk replacer, the latter
is gradually reintroduced into the diet by 1/4 milk
and 3/4 electrolyte for 1 feeding, 1/2-1/2 for 2 feedings
and 3/4 and 1/4 for one more feeding. It may take
a couple of days for the diarrhea to stop.
30 If antibiotic therapy is not effective
in 3 days, it is not going to be. Body temperature,
alertness and perhaps appetite will be better indicators
of response to antibiotic therapy than will cessation
of diarrhea. The latter may not stop until after oral
fluid therapy is discontinued. In all cases antibiotics
should be used at least two days; if there is a positive
response, use for 3 days.
DIARRHEAL DISEASES
COLLECTION;GOAT HANDBOOK
ORIGIN;United States
DATE_INCLUDED;June 1992
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