How to Identify and Prevent Bovine Foot and Mouth Disease
Look for blisters in the mouth, on the feet, and on teats., Watch for excessive drooling., Watch for lameness issues., In lactating cows, look for blisters accumulating on the teats., Look out for other issues associated with the blisters., Note...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Look for blisters in the mouth
Vesicles, which are liquid-filled blisters, will accumulate on the lips, tongue, hard palate, dental pad, gums, muzzle, coronary band, in between hooves (interdigital cleft), and teats of lactating cows. , Because these vesicles are accumulating in the mouth, the animal will be salivating excessively as the body's way to try to fight and get rid of these blisters., While ruptured vesicles in the mouth will heal quickly (roughly 10 to 12 days), ruptured vesicles on the feet can take longer to heal and may become reservoirs for secondary infection from bacteria, resulting in chronic lameness., These blisters or vesicles can rupture and, just like on the feet, cause major problems with secondary bacterial infection (mastitis) in and on the teats.
This can cause a cow to refuse milking and/or suckling from a calf.
This causes a lot of pain for the cow upon milking or when a calf attempts to suckle.
While the workers have to worry about getting kicked from these affected cows, the calf is more seriously affected because not only is it discouraged from suckling by its mother, but it also becomes afflicted with this disease, and suffers as a result from malnutrition and having vesicles in its mouth and feet. , Infected animals will be running a temperature of 104ºF (40ºC; normal for a cow is 39ºC ), stamping their feet profusely, and preferring to lay down because their feet would be quite sore from standing.
Secondary infections due to vesicles rupturing may result in lameness and secondary bacterial mastitis, as that already mentioned.
Young, suckling animals are also seriously affected.
Calves that are suckling and less than 2 months of age are most likely to die from myocarditis (heart failure), than calves that are older or weaned.Calves that die of heart failure often do not show the classical clinical symptoms mentioned above prior to death. , Vesicular stomatitis affects animals from an altogether different viral strain than what would cause FMD.
How it spreads is different also: animals have to be in direct contact with an infected animal, or spread via blood-sucking insects in order to get infected.
Vesicular stomatitis rarely affects sheep and goats, unlike FMD, but is known to be zoonotic. -
Step 2: on the feet
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Step 3: and on teats.
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Step 4: Watch for excessive drooling.
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Step 5: Watch for lameness issues.
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Step 6: In lactating cows
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Step 7: look for blisters accumulating on the teats.
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Step 8: Look out for other issues associated with the blisters.
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Step 9: Note that the symptoms above can be confused with a different disease of similar symptoms.
Detailed Guide
Vesicles, which are liquid-filled blisters, will accumulate on the lips, tongue, hard palate, dental pad, gums, muzzle, coronary band, in between hooves (interdigital cleft), and teats of lactating cows. , Because these vesicles are accumulating in the mouth, the animal will be salivating excessively as the body's way to try to fight and get rid of these blisters., While ruptured vesicles in the mouth will heal quickly (roughly 10 to 12 days), ruptured vesicles on the feet can take longer to heal and may become reservoirs for secondary infection from bacteria, resulting in chronic lameness., These blisters or vesicles can rupture and, just like on the feet, cause major problems with secondary bacterial infection (mastitis) in and on the teats.
This can cause a cow to refuse milking and/or suckling from a calf.
This causes a lot of pain for the cow upon milking or when a calf attempts to suckle.
While the workers have to worry about getting kicked from these affected cows, the calf is more seriously affected because not only is it discouraged from suckling by its mother, but it also becomes afflicted with this disease, and suffers as a result from malnutrition and having vesicles in its mouth and feet. , Infected animals will be running a temperature of 104ºF (40ºC; normal for a cow is 39ºC ), stamping their feet profusely, and preferring to lay down because their feet would be quite sore from standing.
Secondary infections due to vesicles rupturing may result in lameness and secondary bacterial mastitis, as that already mentioned.
Young, suckling animals are also seriously affected.
Calves that are suckling and less than 2 months of age are most likely to die from myocarditis (heart failure), than calves that are older or weaned.Calves that die of heart failure often do not show the classical clinical symptoms mentioned above prior to death. , Vesicular stomatitis affects animals from an altogether different viral strain than what would cause FMD.
How it spreads is different also: animals have to be in direct contact with an infected animal, or spread via blood-sucking insects in order to get infected.
Vesicular stomatitis rarely affects sheep and goats, unlike FMD, but is known to be zoonotic.
About the Author
Peter Patel
Creates helpful guides on pet care to inspire and educate readers.
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