Farm Animal Diarrhea Flashcards

1
Q

What is the importance of diarrhea in farm animals?

A

Major economic loss
Significant welfare issue (painful death, carrier states)
Major environmental cost
Greatest factor in calf mortality
Public health risk

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2
Q

What is the major unseen cost associated with farm animal diarrhea?

A

Sub-optimal growth

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3
Q

What are the 3 factors involved in causing farm animal diarrhea?

A

Pathogens
Host factors (Immune system, stress)
Environment and Management (cleanliness, nutrition, colostrum)

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4
Q

What is the DDx for Calves with ACUTE diarrhea?

A

E. coli
Cryptosporidium
Rotavirus
Coronavirus
Coccidia
Salmonella

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5
Q

What is your top differential for a calf ACUTE with diarrhea <5 days of age?

A

E. coli

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6
Q

What is your top differential for calves with ACUTE diarrhea after 3 weeks of age?

A

Coccidia

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7
Q

What are your top differentials for an adult cow with ACUTE diarrhea?

A

Salmonellosis
Coronavirus (Winter dysentery)
Acidosis/SARA
Malignant Catarrhal Fever
Poisons (Ragwort, Arsenic)
Mucosal Disease
BVD - Notifiable

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8
Q

What are your top differentials for an adult cow with CHRONIC diarrhea?

A

Johne’s Disease (mycobacterium avium sbsp. paratuberculosis aka MAP)
Ostertagiosis
Fluke

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9
Q

Why is a positive culture for E. coli not always significant? What indicates a problem-causing form of E. coli? What age of calves does E. coli typically affect?

A

Normal commensal of GIT
Look for special strains - ETEC (enterotoxigenic E. coli) kills calves (watery diarrhea, scours)
E. coli O157 huge risk in human population (public health risk)
Calves <5 d at highest risk

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10
Q

What part of the intestine does rotavirus inhabit? What age of calf is most susceptible? Does rotavirus cause greater morbidity or mortality?

A

Duodenum and jejunum
1-3 week old calves
High morbidity, Low mortality

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11
Q

How does cryptosporidium cause disease? When are clinical signs seen in calves? What part of the intestine does it inhabit? What does it do to the intestinal villi? What does this do to absorption in the intestine?

A

Builds up in dirty bedding (husbandry)
Clinical signs at 5-14 days
Inhabits lower part of SI/Colon
Causes intestinal villus atrophy = malabsorption

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12
Q

What viruses does cryptosporidium usually present with? What happens to calves as they get older?

A

Paired with rotavirus/coronavirus
As calves get older they develop resistance to crypto

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13
Q

What is so significant about salmonella?

A

Not a normal commensal
ALWAYS pathogenic
ZOONOSIS - public health issue

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14
Q

Is a culture of salmonella always significant? Which species of salmonella is cattle host adapted?

A

Yes
S. enterica serotype dublin

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15
Q

What are the clinical signs associated with salmonella

A

Systemic illness
Pyrexia
Severe diarrhea

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16
Q

What are the range of clinical signs associated with coccidiosis? What age of calves are we looking at?

A

Older calves
May give blood strained feces or might just be subclinical disease giving poor growth rate

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17
Q

What is a non-pathogenic cause of poor growth/thrift and possibly diarrhea in calves that you should ALWAYS consider?

A
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18
Q

What are the clinical signs associated with BVD? What type of virus is BVDV?

A

Does NOT commonly cause diarrhea
Pestivirus
BVD causes a complex of diseases in cattle, the most important of which can interfere with reproduction, affect the unborn calf (poor growth) and lead to mucosal disease
Clinical signs - fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, ocular dishcharge, nasal discharge oral lesions, diarrhea and decreasing milk production
If naive animals become infected

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19
Q

What are the signs of BVD when it infects a naive adult animal?

A

Bloody diarrhea, high fever (105–107 degrees), off- feed, mouth ulcers, and often pneumonia

20
Q

What is this?

A
21
Q

What is this?

A

Rotavirus

22
Q

What is this?

A

Coronavirus

23
Q

Give the most common differentials for lambs < 3 wks old with diarrhea

A

Watery mouth
Poor milk production

24
Q

Give the most common differentials for lambs 3-12 wks old with diarrhea

A

Coccidiosis
Nematodirus

25
Q

Give the most common differentials for post-weaned lambs with diarrhea

A

PGE (parasitic gastroenteritis) in adult sheep

26
Q

What are the less common (but still on DDx list) causes of diarrhea in lambs <3 weeks of age

A

Rotavirus
Coronavirus
Cryptosporidium parvum
E. coli
Salmonellosis
Lamb dysentery

27
Q

Which bacteria is the cause of lamb dysentery?

A

Clostridium perfringens Type B

28
Q

Which animals should you sample when there is diarrhea on a farm?

A

Both healthy and affected animals

29
Q

What are the most important aspects of calf/lamb management?

A

Clean, fresh water
Adequate colostrum ESSENTIAL
Clean environment
Good hygiene

30
Q

What proportion of calves do not receive adequate colostrum? How many times more likely are these calves to die than calves with good colostral status?

A

50% - 4x more likely to die

31
Q

How do you find out if calves are getting adequate colostrum supply? What do you do if they are not?

A

Test calves - Ab status

Either milk mother and bottle feed colostrum or feed milk replacer (make sure to read label and mix replacer properly)

32
Q

What should ALWAYS be accessible for calves (and cows)?

A

Fresh, clean water

33
Q

Are vaccines an appropriate solution for calf/lamb diarrhea cases? Are there specific vaccine protocols all farms should follow?

A

No - vaccines are not a solution
They will not make up for poor husbandry/management
No blanket vaccine protocols - must be tailored to each farm

34
Q

What clinical signs does Johne’s Disease cause? What is the treatment for affected cows? What bodily fluid from the cow is the most infectious?

A

In clinical cases it causes severe diarrhea and weight loss in adult cows
Affected adult cows are infectious (especially feces)
No treatment or cure - need to be culled on humane grounds

35
Q

Is Johne’s Disease zoonotic?

A

Possibly - MAP might be involved in Crohn’s Disease (humans drinking infected milk = inflammatory bowel disease)

36
Q

How do cows usually contract Johne’s Disease?

A

Usually acquired by young stock, but only becomes clinical several years later

37
Q

What is control of Johne’s Disease primarily focused on? What should you keep calves from coming in contact with?

A

Preventing young animals from becoming infected from feces of older animals (or infected colostrum)
Avoid pooling of colostrum

38
Q

Can you detect subclinical Johne’s Disease? How reliable is a positive vs. negative ELISA blood test for MAP Ab?

A

Subclinical disease very difficult to detect due to variable Ab status
Positive test ALWAYS reliable (high specificity) but negative test NOT reliable (low sensitivity)

39
Q

Does MAP ELISA Ab blood test have higher or lower sensitivity to clinically infected cows?

A

Higher due to higher circulating Ab

40
Q

When testing for Johne’s Disease - rank these tests from highest to lowest sensitivity/specificity

A
41
Q

Which bodily fluids can you use to test a cow for Johne’s Disease?

A

Blood, Milk

42
Q

What is the major downside of fecal culture?

A

Takes a very long time

43
Q

What is different about the clinical signs in goats/sheep vs cows?

A

Diarrhea is NOT a common feature in small ruminants

44
Q

What are the specific strains of MAP which cause Johne’s Disease in goats? Can cross-infection occur?

A

C and S strains exist in goats
Cross infection can occur between sheep and cattle

45
Q

What is the name of the vaccine available for control of Johne’s Disease in goats? At what age can you give the injection?

A

Gudair - single injection from 3-6 months of age