Content
Chlamydia in cattle is one of the reasons for the infertility of adult queens and a lot of "diseases" in young animals. Like AIDS, chlamydia is disguised as other diseases that could be treated for years. Until the true cause is removed, the animals will not recover.
What is chlamydia in cattle
It is a contagious infectious disease caused by microorganisms of the genus Chlamidia. Outwardly, chlamydia does not manifest itself in any way. With this infection, the farmer usually believes that his calves are very painful and constantly suffer from colds, indigestion, or conjunctivitis.
With chlamydia, young cattle are "sick":
- bronchopneumonia;
- rhinitis;
- polyarthritis;
- keratoconjunctivitis;
- gastroenteritis;
- encephalomyelitis.
The latter can also manifest itself in adults. Chlamydia bulls are "beaten" at the most valuable. Males develop orchitis and urethritis. Cows infected with chlamydia are observed:
- mastitis;
- premature birth of non-viable or dead calves, usually such an abortion occurs at 7-9 months of pregnancy;
- in aborted queens, the separation of the placenta is delayed;
- development of endometritis;
- long-term infertility.
Because of this variety, it is very difficult to "catch" chlamydia. The basis for suspicion of chlamydia may be the mass manifestation of various "diseases" at the same time.
The causative agent of chlamydia in cattle
The intracellular obligate parasite Chlamydophila psittaci is common for birds, mammals and humans. Infection with this microorganism in cattle is called chlamydia; in humans, this disease is known as psittacosis (psitacosis).
In addition to Chlamydophila psittaci, chlamydia in cattle can be caused by its subspecies Chlamydophila abortus. Therefore, if in a person, chlamydia infection usually looks like the onset of influenza, then abortions may occur in cows.
Chlamydiae differ from viruses by the presence of DNA and RNA and are part of an intermediate group between bacteria, viruses and rickettsia. Chlamydiae have an oval or spherical shape. Being one and the same species, chlamydia can exist in two types:
- intracellular form in the form of reticular bodies with a diameter of 1.2 microns, the structure of these bodies is typical for gram-negative bacteria;
- viral form with a body diameter of 0.3-0.4 microns.
Just like gram-negative bacteria, chlamydiae are sensitive to the tetracycline group of antibiotics.
Parasites are relatively stable in the external environment:
- water - up to 17 days;
- unpasteurized milk - 23 days;
- in products processed by lyophilization (dehydration after freezing) - up to 3 years;
- at very low temperatures - practically forever or as long as the frozen semen of a sick bull will be stored.
At the same time, chlamydia is very sensitive to high temperatures. They can be easily neutralized with disinfectants at normal concentrations.
Chlamydia under a microscope
Ways of transmission of chlamydia
Potential hosts of chlamydiae are very different animals. So much so that they shouldn't have common infectious diseases. However, chlamydia is one of those. Carriers of chlamydia can be:
- birds;
- Cattle;
- horses;
- pigs;
- sheeps;
- people.
The sick organism releases chlamydia into the external environment in several ways:
- with sperm;
- when breathing out air;
- with milk;
- with feces;
- with urine;
- during abortion and childbirth.
Accordingly, the infection of cattle with chlamydia also occurs in several ways:
- aerogenic;
- orally when eating contaminated feed;
- when mating or artificial insemination using bull sperm from a chlamydia-dysfunctional farm.
Chlamydia of cattle is also dangerous because, having entered the farm once, it remains there for years. Young animals constantly develop pulmonary, gastrointestinal, articular and eye diseases. A decrease in the productivity, reproduction and safety of cattle leads to large financial losses. Decontamination of the household from chlamydia is also very expensive.
The birth of unviable calves is one of the signs of chlamydia on the farm
Forms of chlamydia in cattle
In cattle, there are 5 forms of the disease. The type of chlamydia depends on the site of infection. The form of chlamydia can be:
- genital;
- intestinal;
- encephalitis;
- respiratory;
- conjunctival.
Symptoms of chlamydia in cattle
Common to all forms of bovine chlamydia is the incubation period, which lasts from 3 to 20 days. Otherwise, they can be very different from each other.
Genital
Development of endometritis and metritis. Detention of the placenta and abortion. Bingeing, sometimes infertility is observed in cows. Such symptoms are also possible with non-infectious hormonal disruptions.
Chlamydial abortion often goes along with other infectious diseases:
- brucellosis;
- streptococcosis;
- salmonellosis;
- vibriosis;
- trichomoniasis.
In such cases, adult uterus often die due to general septicemia.
With the development of the genital form of chlamydia in a bull, the infection causes inflammation of the testicles (orchitis) and urethritis. Orchitis may not be infectious, but traumatic in nature. In this case, the development of chlamydia will go further.
Signs of orchitis in a bull:
- swelling of the scrotum;
- soreness in one or both eggs;
- general oppression;
- increased body temperature;
- rare bouts of anxiety.
Trying to relieve the pain in the groin, the bull puts the hind leg out and hardly brings it forward.
Urethritis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the urethra, which often occurs for a non-infectious reason. The main symptoms in a bull are:
- an admixture of blood, pus and mucus in the urine;
- frequent urination;
- penile erection.
If the diagnosis is based on history alone, it is easy to be mistaken. A laboratory urinalysis is likely to show the presence of chlamydia. Provided that the analysis for chlamydia will be done.
Orchitis is not only a symptom of chlamydia
Intestinal
Signs of an intestinal form may resemble viral diarrhea:
- temperature 40-40.5 ° C;
- loss of appetite;
- general oppression;
- diarrhea;
- hyperemia of the mucous mouth;
- sometimes the presence of erosions and ulcers.
Symptomatic treatment in this case will not give a result.
Encephalitis
If the parasite has managed to penetrate the nervous system, the cattle develops encephalitis-like chlamydia. Cattle shows signs of damage to the central nervous system:
- uncoordinated movements;
- cramps of the occipital and cervical muscles;
- shaking of the head.
Symptoms of CNS damage usually appear shortly before death, in which case the cow is unlikely to be rescued.
Respiratory
This form of chlamydia can be confused with a good half of respiratory diseases:
- fever;
- the temperature of 40-41 ° C lasts only the first 1-2 days, later decreasing to normal;
- serous nasal discharge after 3-4 days turns mucopurulent;
- the nasal mucosa is swollen and hyperemic;
- cough;
- fast pulse;
- conjunctivitis, or slight swelling of the eyelids;
- rapid breathing.
With this form of chlamydia, the farmer often tries to treat cattle with folk remedies.
Conjunctival
The name of this form speaks for itself. Keratitis, lacrimation and conjunctivitis are observed.
One of the consequences of chlamydia infection
Diagnosis of the disease
The primary diagnosis is made on the basis of clinical signs and epizootological data. The final one is established after laboratory and pathological studies.
To diagnose chlamydia from a cattle patient, samples of blood, feces and washings from the conjunctiva and nasal cavity are taken. Serum samples are taken for a serological study: in the first days of the appearance of clinical signs and after 2-3 weeks. Samples of internal organs are taken from forcibly slaughtered or fallen animals:
- mucous membranes of the trachea, nasal cavity, larynx;
- spleen;
- lungs;
- abomasum;
- small intestine;
- medulla oblongata;
- synovial membrane of the joints;
- hard and soft meninges.
During abortions, vaginal mucus and pieces of the placenta of aborted uterus, the contents of the abomasum and parenchymal organs of the fetus are taken. Ejaculate, semen samples and prepuce washes are taken from bulls. Selected materials are delivered to the laboratory frozen.
The diagnosis is considered established if the following results were obtained during laboratory tests:
- the pathogen was isolated and identified from the test material;
- positive results were obtained in the study of blood serum for chlamydia;
- there is an increase in antibody titer 2 or more times in the study of blood from aborted uterus.
Chlamydia must be differentiated from other infectious diseases. The intestinal and respiratory form of chlamydia in cattle is differentiated from:
- parainfluenza-3;
- infectious rhinotracheitis;
- salmonellosis;
- viral diarrhea;
- adenovirus infection;
- coronavirus enteritis;
- colibacillosis;
- rotavirus infection;
- mycoplasmosis.
The encephalitis form of chlamydia is differentiated from rabies, listeriosis, Aujeszky's disease, toxicosis.
You don't have to check. Legs hanging in the air are a sign of the absence of diseases
Pathological changes
When examining fetuses aborted due to chlamydia, they find:
- numerous hemorrhages in the epicardium, pleura, endocardium, abomasal mucosa, kidneys;
- serous edema in the subcutaneous tissue;
- granular and fatty degeneration of the liver;
- in the internal cavities hemorrhagic transudate.
Enteritis and ulcerative gastritis are also present.
Autopsy of adults and young cattle
For respiratory form:
- the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract are edematous and hyperemic, with hemorrhages;
- mucus, often mixed with pus, in the bronchi;
- dense nodes in the lungs;
- enlarged bronchial lymph nodes with hemorrhage.
With the intestinal form:
- dystrophy of the kidneys, spleen, liver;
- in the internal organs, punctate hemorrhages;
- inflammation of the intestinal mucosa;
- ulcerative enteritis.
Young cattle usually suffer from proliferative fibrinous arthritis, but sometimes they also occur in adults.
Chlamydia treatment in cattle
After establishing an accurate diagnosis, you can start treatment. Used in the case of other infectious diseases, "traditional" antibiotics are useless in the case of chlamydia. They do not act on intracellular parasites. For the treatment of chlamydia, it is necessary to use antibiotics of the tetracycline group. The most effective are teramycin and geomycin retard. Suffice it to be used twice at a dose of 1 mg / 10 kg of live weight. The interval between injections is 3-4 days.
The unsanitary condition of the barn is one of the ways of spreading infections
Preventive actions
Preventive measures are spelled out in the sanitary and veterinary rules:
- it is forbidden to keep different types of animals together;
- contact with birds, wild and domestic, should be as limited as possible;
- the livestock is completed only with healthy animals from farms free of chlamydia;
- bulls-producers in spring and autumn are serologically tested for chlamydia of cattle;
- create an optimal microclimate in the premises.
For the formation of immunity, an inactivated vaccine against bovine chlamydia and the EPL preparation are used. The latter is administered twice with an interval of 1 day. The required doses are indicated in the instructions for the drugs.
Conclusion
Chlamydia in cattle is an insidious and dangerous disease. Because of the "disguise" under other infections, the farmer can start treating cattle on his own, sincerely believing that his cows are not sick with anything terrible. In this case, the herd owner will lose time and suffer losses also due to abortion. In addition, when drinking milk with chlamydia, a person can also get sick.
