Cause
pseudotuberculosis bacilli
It is a Gram-positive bacteria that survives in dried and frozen meat, faeces, pus and soil for a long time, and is quickly destroyed by sunlight and chemical disinfectants.
The same causative agent causes in horses (ulcerative lymphangitis), which is characterized by enlarged vessels and lymph nodes in the legs and lower abdomen and progressive wasting.
Methods of infection and spread
Sick animals are the source of infection.
Contamination of the sheds by erupting cysts in infected animals, as the pus contains huge amounts of the pathogen.
Percutaneous infection usually occurs through cuts during shearing of wool, cutting of the tail, and castration.
Infection can be transmitted through the respiratory tract by dust containing the pathogen.
The cause can be transmitted when animals are immersed in solutions contaminated with the microbe, as wet skin helps the microbe enter the body, and the microbe remains alive in the dipping solutions for several hours.
Oral infection rarely occurs.
The disease is sporadic and rarely appears in an epidemic form.
The disease is observed in large sheep.
Clinical symptoms
There are usually no obvious symptoms, and the course of the disease is chronic and latent in many cases.
The sick animal notices signs of weakness.
The animal becomes progressively wasting.
The superficial phlegmatic nodes are enlarged and may reach the size of a fist.
Enlarged nodes are painless and may contain a yellow-gray purulent substance.
The infection is concentrated in the superficial phlegmatic nodes in the head, neck and chest without raising the animal's temperature.
General weakness, anemia and swelling in the front of the chest and lower abdomen,
Shortness of breath, laryngitis and bronchopneumonia.
anatomical character
In the case of an autopsy of a dead animal, it is noted:
The affected phlegmatic nodes contain various nodes that take the form of an abscess.
In the case of a cross section, these nodes appear as rounded layers similar to an onion section and contain a yellow-green casey substance that is odorless.
If the infection spreads to the lungs, soft, cheesy green areas are noted.
Visible calcifications can be seen in the liver, spleen, kidneys, udder and testes.
differential diagnosis
Cap tuberculosis must be distinguished from Morell's disease, which is caused by some types of anaerobic staphylococcus bacteria, which is very similar to pseudotuberculosis so that it can only be differentiated by laboratory.
processing
Surgical treatment of infected superficial phlegmatic nodes can be done if the infection is localized.
In advanced cases resort to slaughtering the animal and getting rid of it.
The pathogen is highly sensitive to penicillin and tetracycline, as well as to sulfamidine, but the formation of the capsule around the pathogen prevents these drugs from reaching it and affecting it directly.
immunization
Sheep can be immunized against the disease by giving them a dead formalin vaccine, as immunity is formed in the animal’s body after vaccination to protect it from infection with the disease.
Prevention and control
Necessary precautions must be taken, all hygienic measures must be taken, and tools used during shearing wool, tail cutting and neutering must be sterilized.
In the event of the emergence of the disease resort to slaughtering the sick animal and isolating the suspected infection.
Periodic cleaning and disinfection of barns.
Protecting animals from exposure to bad environmental conditions within barns.
