Leptospirosis in Livestock

[kiwibird]

A very interesting point - with many repurcussions for rural areas round the world with leptospirosis found in Europe, Asia, Asia/Pacific, North America, South America and Africa There are varying symptoms and no easy diagnostic test. Due to the varying symptoms, leptospirosis is often misdiagnosed, most frequently dengue.

In hemorrhagic disease there is high fever with lethargy and loss of appetite. This form is often fatal.
The jaundice form begins much like the hemorrhagic form and many of the clinical signs are the same. ...
The renal form causes kidney failure.....

Diagnosis involves taking blood samples during infection and again in the recovery period and showing an increase in antibodies to Leptospira

Leptospirosis: Lethal livestock
Submitted by pekwan on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
leptospirosisrat urine virusThe Mail Sayszoonotic diseaseMail Box
Rats not sole cause for deadly disease as farm animals are suspects too
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 09:19:00

I HAVE been following with interest newspaper reports and development of the zoonotic disease, leptospirosis, over the last couple of months.

The latest detection of the infectious disease caused by bacteria in the urine of certain animals in the waters of Pendang Lake Resort and the Bukit Perak Waterfalls, both in Kedah, calls for an in-depth study to gain a better understanding of the sudden surge of incidents in the country.

According to media reports, the focus of the "outbreak" has been attributed to contamination by rat urine. Since the rodents are natural reservoirs of this pathogenic organism, to a certain degree, we can incriminate them for the present outbreak.

...

A study conducted several years ago by Universiti Putra Malaysia indicated significant prevalence of infection among cattle (40.5 per cent), buffaloes (31 per cent) and pigs (16 per cent) in the country then.
...

An infected cattle, goat or swine can pass several litres of urine a day loaded with disease-causing spirochetes and other pathogenic organisms.

Imagine the kind of contamination the immediate environment is subjected to if a cattle farm upstream has several infected animals. I also understand there is no specific leptospirosis vaccination programme for livestock to control the disease.

The chances of rats contaminating a vast area is limited by their physical size and urine output compared to livestock.

...
Some of the farms close to water bodies have rudimentary sanitary infrastructure and this facilitates a wider spread of animal-borne organisms.

...

snip


S. Param
Ipoh, Perak

Full article here: http://www.mmail.com.my/content/50566-leptospirosis-lethal-livestock