What to Do If a Cow Gets Anthrax? Detailed Introduction to Prevention and Control Methods
Anthrax in cattle is mainly an acute, highly virulent infectious disease caused by the anthrax virus, and it can be transmitted to many animals, and even to humans. Anthrax in cattle comes on very suddenly, and the disease course is very short; within a week it can kill a sick cow and spread to the rest of the herd. If it is not handled in time, it is possible that not a single cow in the entire cattle shed will be spared. So what are the symptoms of anthrax infection? How should it be prevented and controlled? Let's take a look below!
1. Causes
The main source of the disease is farm animals that are already sick. No matter what kind of animal is infected with anthrax, it can easily transmit the disease to nearby animals. During bacteremia, the pathogen is excreted from the cow's body through feces, urine, and even saliva and blood. If the sick cow is not handled in time, the contamination of the environment will be especially severe. Moreover, when cattle eat moldy feed or spoiled water, the contamination will harm the digestive tract, causing the cattle to contract digestive tract diseases, which in turn triggers the onset of anthrax. In places where anthrax is relatively prevalent, dry and rainy weather is also very favorable to the onset of anthrax.
2. Clinical Diagnosis
Even though cattle are such large animals, they are actually livestock that are very prone to disease. The incubation period of anthrax is within one week, and it is roughly divided into three different clinical forms.
Peracute type: With this form, before any symptoms of the sick cow can be seen, it will suddenly collapse, with convulsions all over the body, extremely loud and rapid breathing, cyanosis of the mucous membranes, and dark red blood flowing from the mouth. Within a few minutes it will be unable to breathe and will die from suffocation.
Acute type: The sick cow's body temperature will suddenly rise above 40 degrees, its eyes will be wide open, it will be restless, agitated and running around, accompanied by howling, and within half an hour it will become weak and have great difficulty breathing. There may be gelatinous material or even blood in the feces. Pregnant cows will abort, and death occurs within one to two days. After death, blood flows from the natural orifices, and the blood cannot coagulate.
Subacute type: The subacute type is the slowest to develop of the three forms. The sick cow develops hard swellings on the chest, udder, anus and other areas. In the early stage, pressing on them will make the cow howl from pain, and a relatively high heat can be felt. After several hours, symptoms of the acute type appear, and after a few days the swollen areas become necrotic, but the course of the disease can last up to one week.
3. Treatment Methods
When a sick cow is found, it or its carcass must immediately be transported to a place at least one kilometer away from the cattle shed for deep burial or burning. There is currently no very effective treatment for sick cows; the only option is to prevent the rest of the cattle from being infected. All equipment the sick cow has come into contact with (water troughs, feed troughs) must be completely destroyed, and the cattle shed must be disinfected. Use hot alkaline water and bleaching powder to thoroughly disinfect the cattle shed, not leaving a single corner untouched. Do this at least three times, with an interval of at most one hour. Give the rest of the cattle anti-anthrax serum, with the dosage determined according to the instructions, and regularly inject the herd with avirulent anthrax spore vaccine for prevention.
After a cow becomes sick, you must carefully identify what disease it is to prevent further deterioration. If it is anthrax, you must not only disinfect the rest of the cattle and the cattle shed, but also thoroughly disinfect yourself, because as mentioned earlier, it is not only livestock that can be infected; it also has a very strong attack rate on humans. Therefore, before ensuring the herd is sterile, you must first disinfect yourself, and wear protective antibacterial clothing when handling sick cows. Anthrax is very frightening. If it is not handled in time, it may cause all the cattle to die. I hope everyone will take it seriously, and I also hope the editor's article is helpful to everyone.