What disease causes geese to die quickly after passing green droppings?

Ma Yonggen from Qinxing Village, Zhenze Town, Wujiang City called to say that he had raised more than 400 geese. When the geese weighed three to four jin, he found that several geese were lying down unable to stand, passed green droppings, and died quickly. Within two days, 6 had already died, and several more geese had also shown symptoms of lying down and looked like they were failing. The local veterinarian diagnosed it as a septic infectious disease.

Based on the above situation, the geese may have viral enteritis or fowl cholera. Both diseases have symptoms of passing green droppings and rapid death. Which specific disease it is should still be further diagnosed.

Goose viral ulcerative enteritis is an acute septic infectious disease caused by duck plague virus, characterized by high fever, tearing, swelling of the head and neck, ulceration of the cloaca, passage of green watery droppings, and weakness of both legs. At the beginning of the disease, body temperature rises to 42-43°C, with listlessness, complete loss of appetite, weakness of both feet, lying on the ground unable to rise, and drooping wings. The characteristic symptoms are: eyelid edema, tearing, moist feathers around the eyes, and conjunctival congestion and hemorrhage. The head and neck swell, and large amounts of serous and mucous secretions flow from the nostrils, with difficulty breathing, often with head tilting back and coughing. There is diarrhea, with yellow-green, gray-green, or yellowish-white watery droppings, and blood in the feces. The anus is edematous, and the cloacal mucosa is congested and swollen; in severe cases, the cloaca prolapses. The penis of affected male geese cannot be retracted. When an affected goose is held upside down, a green, foul-smelling, viscous liquid can flow from the mouth. Death generally occurs in 2-5 days, and some cases may have a prolonged course. Adult geese mostly show tearing, diarrhea, lameness, and a decline in egg production.

Sick ducks, sick geese, and virus carriers are the sources of infection for this disease. It can spread through direct contact and indirect contact. Contaminated water bodies, as well as feed, drinking water, equipment, and other items, are all transmission media for this disease. Sick geese are mainly infected through the digestive tract and respiratory tract, and can also be infected through the conjunctiva of the eyes and bites from blood-sucking insects. Under natural conditions, infection and disease occur under circumstances of close contact with affected ducks; the duck flock is affected first, and then the goose flock becomes infected. Geese of different ages, breeds, and sexes can all develop the disease, but geese aged 15-50 days are highly susceptible, with a mortality rate of about 80%. In adult geese, the morbidity and mortality rates depend on environmental conditions, generally around 10%, but in epidemic areas they can be as high as 90%-100%.

For affected goose flocks, while adopting isolation and disinfection measures, duck plague vaccine should be used for emergency vaccination. Sick geese should be fed more green feed and less pelleted feed, and oral rehydration salts should be used instead of drinking water for 4-5 consecutive days, with appropriate additional vitamins and antibiotics in the feed to enhance disease resistance and prevent secondary infection. For geese in threatened areas and epidemic areas, attenuated duck plague vaccine should be used for preventive vaccination. For goslings under 15 days old, use 15 times the duck dose; for goslings aged 15-30 days, use 20 times the dose; for geese over 30 days old, use 25-30 times the dose.

Fowl cholera, also called avian pasteurellosis or avian hemorrhagic septicemia, is an acute septic infectious disease shared by chickens, ducks, and geese. It often occurs because the excreta and secretions of sick geese contain large amounts of bacteria, contaminating feed, drinking water, equipment, and premises, thereby causing healthy geese to become ill.

Main symptoms: The peracute form has no obvious symptoms, and the birds often suddenly fall to the ground while eating or after eating and die quickly. The acute form has a course of 1-3 days before death, manifested as listlessness, ruffled feathers, reduced or complete loss of appetite, increased drinking, and frequent diarrhea, with yellow, gray-white, or pale green watery feces, sometimes mixed with blood streaks or blood clots, and a foul odor. The chronic form mostly occurs in the later stage of an outbreak; sick geese become emaciated and anemic, with swelling and suppuration of the leg joints, lameness, and finally death from emaciation and exhaustion. A small number of sick geese, even if they recover, grow very slowly.

In areas where this disease commonly occurs, regular preventive injection with fowl cholera aluminum hydroxide vaccine or attenuated live fowl cholera bacterin should be carried out. The general immunity period is 5-6 months, and the protection rate is 60%-70%. Commonly used therapeutic drugs include sulfonamides, antibiotics, and others.