What Are the Symptoms of Rinderpest? A Detailed Guide to Scientific Prevention and Treatment
Symptoms of rinderpest:
(1) The incubation period is generally 3 to 15 days. The Terrestrial Animal Health Code stipulates that the incubation period of rinderpest is 21 days.
(2) Acute form: In newly affected areas, young cattle and newborn calves often show the most acute onset, dying without any prodromal symptoms.
(3) The sick animal suddenly develops a high fever (41 to 42 degrees C), which persists for 3 to 5 days without subsiding. The mucous membranes (such as the conjunctiva of the eyes, and the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, and reproductive organs) become congested and red. There is tearing, nasal discharge, and drooling, which are mucopurulent. On the 3rd to 4th day after the onset of fever, characteristic changes appear in the mouth: the oral mucosa (gums, inner surface of the lips, ventral surface of the tongue) becomes red, and rapidly develops numerous grayish-yellow millet-sized raised spots, resembling a layer of bran sprinkled on the surface, which fuse with each other to form a grayish-yellow pseudomembrane. After it sloughs off, erosions or necrosis are exposed, presenting as irregularly shaped ulcers with uneven edges and a deep red base, commonly known as map-like ulcers.
(4) After the high fever, severe diarrhea occurs, with tenesmus, and the feces are thin like thick soup and blood-stained, with an extremely foul odor, containing mucous membrane and necrotic tissue fragments. There is frequent urination, with the urine being yellow-red or black-red. After the onset of diarrhea, the condition deteriorates rapidly, with rapid dehydration, emaciation, and exhaustion, followed by death before long. The course of the disease is generally 4 to 10 days.
(5) Atypical and inapparent forms: In areas where the disease has been prevalent for a long time, it is mostly atypical; affected cattle show only brief mild fever, diarrhea, and oral changes, with a low mortality rate. Or it may follow an asymptomatic, inapparent course.
Prevention and treatment measures for rinderpest:
(1) In epidemic areas and threatened areas, immunization with cell culture attenuated vaccine can be used, and a combined rinderpest/bovine contagious pleuropneumonia vaccine can also be used.
(2) Rinderpest prevention and control should mainly strengthen port quarantine to prevent introduction when cattle are moved forward. When this disease is found, it should be reported immediately, and work such as blockade, quarantine, isolation, disinfection, and destruction of carcasses should be carried out well.
(3) For disinfection, 2% sodium hydroxide or 3% carbolic acid or 3% coal tar soap solution can be used.
(4) Cattle herds in neighboring epidemic areas can be vaccinated with rinderpest vaccine and bovine-specific immune globulin, and preventive vaccination can also be given once every one or two years; the rinderpest goat-adapted rabbit-adapted attenuated vaccine is suitable for Mongolian cattle and yellow cattle, and the rinderpest sheep-adapted rabbit-adapted attenuated vaccine is suitable for yak, pianniu, Korean cattle, and yellow cattle; after injection of rinderpest vaccine and bovine-specific immune globulin, strong immunity is produced in 14 days and can last for one year.
(5) There is still no effective drug for the treatment of rinderpest. In the early stage of the disease, intravenous injection of American Reaps bovine immune globulin (refined pentavalent) can be used, injecting 50 ml of this product per 500 kg, with the preventive dose halved. Depending on the condition, it can be used continuously 1 to 2 times. The protective effect lasts 14 days.