With outbreaks of Lumpy Skin Disease and Three-day Stiffsickness being picked up by veterinarians among cattle herds across the Highveld, cattle owners have been advised not to resort to“ boer-maak-n-plan” remedies, but to place reliance on registered drugs and vaccines to combat the diseases. Excellent rainfall and relatively warm temperatures are what bring out the carriers of these diseases, and prevention is better than cure. Thus, vaccination of healthy animals, during the course of the year and before any possible outbreak, should form part of every livestock owner ' s regular regimen. Vaccinating sick animals is useless, say veterinarians. Moreover, treating sick animals with, for example, bizarre remedies such as injections of Dettol, or acetylsalicylic acid( aspirin, to you) is also useless, and possible dangerous. Antibiotics are used to treat lumpy skin disease, while anti-inflammatory products registered for livestock are used for three-day stiffsickness. Lumpy skin disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and flies, among others. It was first detected in what was Northern Rhodesia in 1929, but has since spread throughout Africa, and outbreaks have also been reported from, among other countries, Israel and Bulgaria. Transmission can occur by
DISEASE
Wet weather brings on cattle ailments
Home-made remedies are daft, ineffective and dangerous say vets
ingestion of feed and water contaminated with infected saliva. The disease is characterised by painful nodules on the entire body, particularly on the head, neck and udder, between seven and 19 days after the animals are infected by the virus. The nodules can become necrotic( ie the flesh dies off). The disease is sometimes fatal. Three-day stiff-sickness, also called bovine ephemeral fever, is also a viral disease, particularly devastating in the dairy industry. Symptoms include a sharp rise in temperature followed by, among others, loss of appetite, a stiff gait, nasal discharge and salivation, inflamed joints, and rapid pulse and respiration rates. It is also an insect-transmitted disease.
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