INFORMATION
***************************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Fri 8 Jan 2010
Source: The Daily Advertiser [edited]
Cattle farmers in western [New South Wales] are counting a mounting
death toll as herds of corpses litter paddocks after succumbing to an
unknown disease.
The disease is causing growing concern as it continues to spread
among livestock properties, with farmers from Mildura, Hillston,
Ivanhoe, and Mossgiel reporting mystery deaths in their herds.
Head veterinarian with the Western Division of DPI [Department of
Primary Industries] Dr Greg Curran yesterday [7 Jan 2009] admitted
the disease behind the deaths was yet to be identified, expressing
his unease at the severity of the illness.
Early speculation had salmonella poisoning blamed as the cause of the
deaths but as more necropsies are carried out a rare salmonella
outbreak is becoming less and less likely to be the sole culprit.
"There are various possibilities," he said. "We are finding
salmonella damage in some of the cattle but then we are opening other
up and finding damage from something else. We are still working on an
overall diagnosis. It has been quite severe in some mobs."
A Mossgiel farmer is feeling the full brunt of the unknown sickness,
with 66 percent of one of his herds struck with the virus. [At this
point, they do not know if it is a virus, but it is causing death. - Mod.TG]
He is said the biggest worry of the illness is the speed in which
calves and cows are affected before death. "We only have 22 left in
the mob," he said. "They look healthy 3 to 4 days before they are
sick, then they get diarrhea before they start to slime something
from the mouth. Then they are dead."
In order to quarantine his farm, [the farmer] has moved the 2 healthy
herds to the far corners of the property to limit their contact with
the sick livestock. "We are keeping them to one side of the property," he said.
"I know of at least 7 other farmers that have this happening on their
property but we are the only property so far that has had it go
through the whole lot.
"It was just attacking the calves early in December [2009] and the
older ones were standing up to it better, but now it is killing the
cows as well."
[The farmer] and Dr Curran share a growing anxiety over the inability
to find an antibiotic or treatment showing a response in the sick
animals. "We have attempted various treatments but at this point
antibiotics and treatments have not been as successful as hoped," he said.
"We saw something similar to this in 2006; we saw what appears to be
the same sort of problem."
Local farmers will be relieved to hear at this stage it looks
unlikely the disease will spread into the Riverina, with Dr Curran
confident the disease will be contained in the affected region.
[Byline: Stephanie Muir]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[The article is relatively vague, only giving us a few signs, of
diarrhea, and slime at the mouth, and then presumably, acute death.
We are not even told what antibiotics they tried. However, either
this is not bacterial, or they treated with an antibiotic the agent
is not sensitive to.
If there is a pattern here, then we should learn from this. How
similar is this outbreak to the one in 2006? What stopped the spread
of the illness? Is it spread via air? Fomites? Or nose-to-nose contact?
What kinds of investigations have been done? Do these animals have a
fever? Are they off feed before showing signs of illness? Do all
affected areas have anything in common? Water? Hay? Feed?
I could speculate on several diseases, but there are presently too
many unknown pieces. If there is someone with more information, not
speculation, ProMED-mail would welcome the input. - Mod.TG]
[New South Wales can be located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail
interactive map of Australia at
[see also:
2009
----
Theileria, bovine - Australia: (NSW), RFI 20090313.1045
Ephemeral fever, bovine - Australia: (NSW) 20090313.1043
Fascioliasis, bovine - Australia: (NS) 20090306.0934
Bovine viral diarrhea - Australia (02) 20090120.0244
Bovine viral diarrhea - Australia: susp., RFI 20090106.0051
2008
----
Bluetongue, bovine - Australia: (NT) 20080417.1374
Tick fever, bovine - New Caledonia ex Australia (04) 20080401.1205
Tick fever, bovine - Australia: (NSW), babesiosis 20080401.1201
Tick fever, bovine - New Caledonia ex Australia (03) 20080330.1184
Tick fever, bovine - New Caledonia ex Australia (02) 20080320.1073
Tick fever, bovine - New Caledonia ex Australia 20080313.1006
2007
----
Undiagnosed deaths, bovine - Australia (NSW) (02) 20070329.1088
Undiagnosed deaths, bovine - Australia (NSW): RFI 20070324.1028
2006
----
Johne's disease, bovine - Australia (WA) 20060711.1904
Botulism, bovine - Australia (02) 20060629.1797
Botulism, bovine - Australia 20060524.1464
Lupinosis, ovine, bovine - Australia (SA) 20060406.1029]
...................................sb/tg/mj/dk
*##########################################################*
************************************************************
ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that
are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the
information, and of any statements or opinions based
thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in
using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID
and its associated service providers shall not be held
responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any
damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted
or archived material.
************************************************************
Become a ProMED-mail Premium Subscriber at
************************************************************
Visit ProMED-mail's web site at
Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org
(NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your
full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send
commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help,
etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a
human being send mail to: owner-promed@promedmail.org.
############################################################
############################################################
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment