Spring is a time when sheep pox is prone to occur, so the prevention and treatment methods must be mastered
Sheep are prone to sheep pox in spring, so doing a good job in the prevention and treatment of sheep pox is a key task in spring sheep raising. Sheep pox is an acute febrile contact infectious disease, mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract, and can also be transmitted through damaged skin or mucous membranes.
Sheep
Main symptoms: In typical cases, the incubation period is 6-8 days, and the sheep's body temperature rises to 41°C-42°C. After 2-5 days, obvious erythema can be seen on hairless or sparsely haired parts of the sheep's skin, such as the limbs, lips, nose, and cheeks. Subsequently, erythema appears on the perineum, groin, and armpits, and even over the whole body of the sheep. After one or two days, the erythema forms papules protruding from the skin surface. The papules then enlarge and become raised grayish-white or pale red nodules. After several days, vesicles form, and the fluid inside the vesicles is like lymph in the early stage, then becomes purulent in the later stage, forming pustules. In atypical cases of sheep pox, the pox rash does not appear or appears only in small amounts, or appears as indurated pox rash, which dries and falls off within a few days without forming vesicles and pustules, showing a benign course.
Preventive measures: 1. Strengthen feeding management, do a good job in supplementary feeding, and keep warm appropriately to prevent late spring cold. 2. Inspect the flock regularly, and promptly isolate and treat sick sheep found to have sheep pox. Sheep with no treatment value should be culled. 3. Regularly disinfect sheep sheds and feeding utensils with alkaline solution or bleaching powder. 4. In areas where sheep pox frequently occurs, regularly vaccinate the flock every year. For flocks isolated and treated for sheep pox, sheep pox chick embryo attenuated vaccine can be used for emergency vaccination of unaffected sheep. Regardless of the size of the sheep, inject 0.5 ml per sheep. Convalescent sheep serum can also be injected to prevent sheep pox disease, 10 ml per adult sheep and 3-5 ml per lamb.