Peste des Petitis

Also known as PPR and goat plaque. it is an acute or sub-acute viral disease of small ruminants characterised by fever necrotic stomatitis, gastroentritis, pneumonia, conjunctivitis.

Etiology

 PPR is caused by virus member of genus Morbillivirus belonging to family Paramyxoviridae. it is antigeniacally  related to Rinderpest.

Epidemiology

It is a List A disease by the OIE. Morbidity is 90%  Mortality is 50 to 80%. goats are more susceptible to disease than sheep. the disease is directly transmitted from diseased to healthy.

Pathogenesis

 The virus enters through inhalation, goes to the pharangeal and sub-mandibular lymph nodes and multiplies there. then goes to lymphoid tissue of other systems like GIT and Respiratory. this causes severe leukopenia and immunosuppression. also cause necrosis of lumph nodes.virus is shed by the diseased animal in acute form of disease but stops as the temperature becomes normal. 

Clinical Signs

Incubation period of the virus is 4-10 days. there is a high rise of body temp from 104-106 F.
animal is dull and depressed and anorectic. The virus causes mucosal erosion in mouth and nasal passage within 5 days. there os profuse salivation and necrotic stomatitis with Halitosis. Serous nasal discharge becomes mucopurulent resulting in profuse catarhral exudate which crust and occlude over nostrils. pneumonia and conjunctivitis are also common signs. after 3 days diarrhea follows which causes severe dehydration hypothermia and death follows.

Diagnosis

History can help in diagnosing the disease as it comes in epidemic form. The confirmatory tests include CBC, ELISA, PCR, VNT,

Treatment

there is no specific treatment only supportive treatment is given. NSAIDS are preffered over steroids as steroids cause immunosupression.. antibiotic to stop the secondary bacterial infection, penicillin or cephalosporin group used as GIT involved and more chances of gram-ve bacteria to grow.rehydration is done with infusions. vit A inj and gargling with KMNO4 solution

Prevrention

some preventions must be done in case of viral disease i a herd. these include

• isolate the infected animals
• quarrantine and vaccine in the endemic areas. modifide live PPR vaccine is done. vaccine is done at 1.5 year of age because before that there are enough antibodies from the clostrum. if not fed clostrum then vaccine at 6 months.

Deg Nala Disease

Hello readers. I came across a new case today. It was diagnosed Deg Nala. Deg-nala Disease and Ringworm is most common complication seen in Pakistan in dairy animals caused due to mycotoxins. Different molds produce variety of Mycotoxins which are characterized as secondary metabolites. FAO has stated that every year about 25% crops are affected by mycotoxins and make it harmful to utilize it as eatable safe food. Molds can be found throughout the planet earth so that theycan affect crops at any stage to produce mycotoxins while they are in the field, or  at harvesting stage even crops are in storage or being processed they can be caught by molds. Dairy animals got caught by them when they consume the affected feed.

            As molds produce toxins to cause acute toxicity in animals they can also cause chronic conditions in them as well like secondary infectious conditions and decreased milk production. Usually the responsible fungal agents of mycotoxicosis are Aspergillus niger, Alternaria alternata, Fusarium avenaceum, Mucor heimalis,Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium fusarioides, Cladosporium cladosporoides,Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium notatum. Generally most concerning molds and mycotoxins are Aspergillus, which produce mostly aflatoxin, Fusarium which produce a large variety of mycotoxinslike T-2 toxin, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol while Fumonisin and Penicilliummolds which produce  ochratoxin and PRtoxin. In addition to this ergot is also an example of  several other mycotoxins which are consideredas detrimental to cattle and buffalo due to their prevalence in many feedstuffs.

The disease rate is higher in the buffaloes. The infection gets more severity when other micro-organisms like bacteria attacks on the immunodeficient buffaloes infected with Degnala disease so secondary bacterial infection is also partly responsible for degree of disease in animal. The dark black spots in the Rice straw are considered as an indication of growth of fungus in it.

Signs and Symptoms

necrosis start in the tail

            The signs and symptoms seen in buffaloes are lameness, edema, gangrenous ulceration of limbs, hooves, ears or tail that are cold to the touch so that it is also called gangrenous syndrome. Sometimes the muzzle and tip of the tongue become gangrenous; there is emaciation, recumbency and eventually death. Sometimes gangrenous portions of the body drop off; in the case of hooves, bones can be exposed.

Treatment

                   

          necrosis start in the ear pinna

It is mostly seen that in Degnala disease due to specific and symptomatic treatment of acute cases the lesions heal within a few weeks, but in chronic and older cases the treatment lasts for 1 to 32 months. To detect the exact fungi species, the feedsample should be tested and isolated in the agar or liquid media and it should be especially deferentially diagnosed with ergot poisoning by observing increase in body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, epidemic hyper thermia and hyper salivation. Lesions should be washed and dressed withn it glycerine 2 percent ointment. In order to achieve the fast recovery, a therapeutic regimen can consist in oxytetracycline at 20 mg/kg BW in a single intramuscular injection or, better, in oral administration of penta-sulphate at 30 g daily for ten days. The best way to control the disease by improving feedquality and by using of hydrated sodium calcium alumosilicate (HSCAS) or othersorbents to bind aflatoxins in the gastrointestinal tract.

Trans-venereal Tumor in dogs

Hey, so today a dog came into our clinic and the complaint was that it had a bleeding from its penis. Further history told that the urine was normal and upon examination first from the outside we could see a prominence just caudaly to the penis.So we retracted the ospenis and just caudal to the bulbus glandis was the tumor. Its called transvenereal tumor. The owner also reported a history of mating and the female was infected too. trans venereal tumor is a tumor of the reproductive organs. In females it can be in the vagina upto the cervix. but in females urine obstruction may be seen as the pressure exerted by the tumor on the uretherak orifice at the base. The tumor can be from 5 nm to 10 cm. 
There are two approaches to handle this case. the first one is surgical. It is done when the tumor is large and If the owner could afford the expenses of the surgery. Prepuciotomy is done in males.and the tumor is resected and then cauterization is done. topical application of vincristine may also be done at 1.5 mg/m2.But a common complication in males is the adhesions of the mucosa with the prepuce.
The other option is chemotherapy. Cristine sulphate (vincristinie market available drug) is used at the rate of 0.02 mg per kg body weight and the route of administration is IV. vincristine comes in a 2 ml vial with a concentration of 1mg/ml. it shows best results. The animal recovers in 3-4 weeks. 
hope it was helpful.

Lameness in cattle

Hey.
This is something about posture of cattle suffering from lameness.
the normal posture of the hind leg is that the hock joint must be directly in line with the tuber ischii of the os coxae.
now some of the problematic conditions include:
Cow Hock:
toes of the animal in this condition are outwards and the hock inward

Pigeon Toed:
in this condition toes are inwards and the hock is outwards

Camping Forward:
if the animal is having a problem or pain in the toe the animal will bear its weight on the heel of that leg and lift the toe

Camping Backward:
if the animal is feeling pain in the heel then it will touch its toe with the ground and will not bear weight on the heel of that limb.

Clinical laminitis:
these cases are mostly seen in dairy cows which have to stand for longer periods of time for milking and feeding. these animals mostly have this condition on all of the 4 limbs. the animal will stand in a posture that it will take back its fore legs and rear legs somewhat forward.

Puppy Feed

Hello  readers. today i am sharing with you a case of bowed forelimb of a puppy. Although it happens it the 5th to 12th week of age when the growth is fast but i saw it in a 15 year old puppy. 
The puppy came with a history of bowed forelimb from past 2 days. The puppy was kept on soft muddy ground. It was not on its mothers milk.
So we diagnosed that the condition was due to the Ca and P deficiency which are important minerals for bone formation. 
The treatment we provided was Ca-P syrup 5 ml twice a day. Lysovit  syrup which has vit b-complex. 
and we also recommended a change of diet. the puppy must be given cow or goat milk. add cardamom and an egg warm the milk up to boil. sieve up and give 1 cup of this feed every 4 hrs a day. 
you could also add boiled rice in the milk. This feed ensures the healthy growth of the puppies.
Hope it was helpful, do try the feed on your puppies.

Thanks

septic arthritis

Hello readers. This is my first blog. I am excited to share my clinic experiences with you guys.I am sure these may help people with pets, or other young vets out there. 

So here goes
 
A goat came to our clinic it had an injured distal hind leg. the owner had the leg dressed a week ago. so i had to soften the bandage with some water so that the wound not be damaged. as i exposed the wound i could see some necrosed tissue so i removed that and i saw the the wound was deep till the bone. This condition needed serious attention as it could lead to septic arthritis. the infection could reach the joint capsule and damage the deep digital flexor tendon and the bursa. i irrigated with KMnO4 solution and cleaned the wound with pyodine swabs. keeping aseptic condition is the key to a quick healing. i applied zinc oxide ointment and bandaged the leg,