Large Animals Archives | Page 2 of 3

Resistance Is Useless: Antimicrobials– Awareness, Behaviour and Diagnostics

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Les Ellison

Super-bug resistance to antimicrobial treatment is a serious problem for pig, poultry and cattle farmers in the UK and worldwide. Many antibiotics ‘of last resort’ are longer effective against infections caused by bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli.

Antibiotic resistance is set to cost the world’s commercial farmers an estimated 10 million animal deaths by 2050. So said the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer reporting to The London Vet Show last November. That compares to a current figure of about 700,000. Yet the potential global cost could be tackled at only a fraction of the cost in money and suffering.

Exposure to ineffective levels of antimicrobials

Inappropriate and incomplete courses of antimicrobials in the past is blamed for a large part of the problems vets face today. Exposure to ineffective levels of antimicrobials kills only the most vulnerable pathogens leaving resistant bugs to survive and pass their protection to their offspring.

Over-use of antimicrobials has the same effect. Because microbes have a short generation time, there’s a high chance of a random resistant mutation occurring in an environment already dosed-up with antimicrobials. Again, all subsequent generations will have in-built resistance.

Improved public awareness and legislation

Defeating AMR involves improved public awareness and legislation to change treatment behaviour as well as research into new drugs. Proposed actions include 10-year targets to reduce unnecessary usage together with restrictions on the most crucial antimicrobials. Improved transparency allows the public to support antimicrobial-free food production practices through their shopping choices.

Veterinary laboratories can reduce the need for antimicrobial treatments with quicker and more specific veterinary diagnostics. Many bacterial infections cause a similar range of symptoms in infected animals. Diagnostics that can differentiate between causative organisms help to identify the most appropriate treatments and dosage, reducing the opportunity for new resistance to arise.

Laboratory scientists found that even resistant superbugs have an Achilles heel

Faced with using just the current arsenal of antimicrobials, researchers at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine on the island of St Kitt’s, report all is not lost. Laboratory scientists found that even resistant superbugs have an Achilles heel. They found that both Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli each had a gene in their DNA that could be turned off. Once these genes were deactivated, the bugs lost their resistant super-powers and were once again vulnerable to the drugs previously used to fight against them.

As the scientific battlefront against AMR pushes forward, evidence suggests that the fight to change behaviour is at least holding its ground. Results from the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption show a decline in antimicrobial usage of 2.4% 2011-2014. This downward trend supported by improving veterinary diagnostics means that for super-bugs, resistance may yet be useless.

Rinderpest Eradication – A Veterinary Success Story

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Les Ellison

On 8 May 1980, the World Health Organisation declared the devastating human disease, smallpox, officially eradicated in every country of the world. Only one other disease has been similarly eradicated at the global level: the 2000-year-old disease of wild and domesticated cattle, Rinderpest.

Similar to the measles and canine distemper virus, rinderpest is a single-stranded RNA paramyxovirus invading via the respiratory tract through contact with infected body fluids or contaminated drinking water.

The first outbreaks were recorded in Asia as far back as the 4^th century

Rinderpest symptoms include fever, mouth ulcers, diarrhoea and mucosal congestion followed by a general weakening and death within 8 to 12 days. Also called steppe-morain and cattle-plague, the disease is almost 100% lethal in domestic herds of cattle, buffalo, yak and wild cloven-hoofed animals such as wildebeest and giraffe.

The first outbreaks were recorded in Asia as far back as the 4^th century and first properly investigated in the 17^th. The earliest experiments in immunisation began in the 18^th century in response to economic collapse and starvation following the devastating waves of cattle plague that swept relentlessly through Asia, Africa and Europe.

The virulent nature of the disease is exemplified by the severe epidemic that took hold in Europe following the transit of Indian cattle through Antwerp en route for Brazil in 1920. The outbreak led directly to the formation of the Office International des Epizooites (OIE) now known as the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The OIE began a programme of global rinderpest eradication

The OIE began a programme of global rinderpest eradication beginning first with improved animal hygiene, husbandry and disease containment until the first production in 1957 of Walter Plowright’s effective vaccine.

In 1999, the OIE predicted the global eradication of rinderpest by 2011. Despite occasional outbreaks in the decade that followed, in 2011, the rinderpest paramyxovirus was declared as only the second disease, after human smallpox, to be officially eradicated world-wide.

The OIE maintains a post-eradication role of monitoring and control

Although no longer present in live animals, virus stocks are still held in about 20 laboratories around the world. Though intended for vaccine production, the risk of an accident or an act of bio-terrorism remains; and the OIE maintains a post-eradication role of monitoring and control of virus storage facilities.

Eradication programmes for other animal diseases are likely to follow. As with rinderpest, the strategy is likely to involve not just the search for a vaccine, but also the rigorous application of high standards in hygiene, husbandry and containment, together with advances in veterinary laboratory practice, sample management, examination techniques and diagnostic testing.

Herd Animals Are Increasingly Popular As Domestic Pets

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Les Ellison

More and more Brits are keeping livestock animals as domestic pets. Exotic herd animals including llamas, alpacas, and other camel-type species have joined sheep, pigs and goats on the list of ‘pet’ animals served by veterinary laboratories.

An estimated 53,000 UK pet owners keep goats as household pets compared to the 8.5 million who own a dog and the 13 million with a resident cat. Some goat owners even allow their pet goat access rights normally enjoyed by a dog or cat; giving up a share of the sofa and fitting a ‘goat flap’ to an outer door.

2006 Animal Welfare Act

The law sets out the five basic welfare needs of any animal relating to proper diet, suitable living space, separation from incompatible species, freedom to behave normally and health care. Pet farm animals are covered by further laws governing the way an animal is identified, registered, transported documented.

With enough resources, planning and consideration, traditional herd animals can make affectionate and fascinating companions. One important thing to remember is that these are herd animals, which means they’re genetically programmed to live most happily and naturally in the company of other members of their own species, not on their own with only human company.

Increasingly popular as field pets

Increasingly popular as field pets are South American members of the camel family. Domesticated in their native lands for centuries, Llamas and Alpacas have been variously farmed for their wool, milk, meat and as pack animals. Docility has been bred into their nature – which does not mean that manners and good behaviour can be taken for granted. These are intelligent animals with a will of their own.

There are about 35,000 alpacas in the UK and around 3,000 llamas. Classed as endangered species there are fewer vicuna and guanaco – the wild ancestor of the domesticated llama. Small herds of vicuna can be seen in UK zoos and wildlife parks, with a few guanaco herds kept for commercial production their fine, high-quality wool.

Owners must become observant

Keeping camelids as pets brings its own unique welfare problems. Alpacas, in particular, can give little indication of when they are unwell before becoming seriously sick, so it’s important for owners to become observant and establish good relations with their veterinary practice as soon as they take charge of their animals.

With the resource to quick and accurate veterinary diagnostic tests, and the expertise to identify and treat the gastrointestinal parasites that can infest all field animals, your vet will help you discover the delight and fascination of caring for these beautiful – if still a little unusual, herd animals as pets.

McMaster Faecal Egg Count (FEC) Monitoring Of Tapeworm Infestation

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Les Ellison

Checking the faeces of sheep, goats, cattle, horses and the UK’s growing lama and alpaca herd for tapeworm eggs is a tried and tested method for monitoring gastrointestinal parasite infestation.

McMaster Slide Faecal Egg Count Technique

Since 1939, the McMaster Slide Faecal Egg Count Technique has provided veterinary laboratories with a means of quantifying the number of parasite eggs in a faecal sample. The principle is simple and based on knowing the number of faeces tested, the volume of Faecal Flotation Solution used to suspend the sample, and the number of tapeworm eggs (oocysts) counted in the microscopic examination of a known volume of sample suspension.

By taking into account factors such as the likely uneven distribution of oocysts in a faecal sample and variation in tapeworm egg production due to season, habitat and the hormonal state of the host animal, the ‘tapeworm burden’ in the animal can be estimated.

An absence of tapeworm eggs in a single test might not mean that the host is tapeworm-free. It might be that the infestation is made up of immature parasites, or that there is some resistance in the host that is suppressing parasite egg production.

Identifying a particular parasite

With practice and experience in veterinary microscopy, the diagnostic veterinary laboratory scientist will even be able to identify the particular parasite infecting an animal by recognising the specific oocytes of Trichostrongyle, Nemitodorus, Eimeria and other invasive species.

Some gastrointestinal worms are particular to certain hosts, making FEC a useful tool in monitoring trends in animal diseases. Of current interest is Nematodirus lamae, a parasite of alpaca and other camel-related animals. This worm had not previously been seen in animals outside of South Africa, only recently being found in an alpaca in the UK.

The importance of constant faecal egg monitoring

Constant faecal egg monitoring of dairy herds, sheep and horses is important as the parasites use intermediate hosts, making complete eradication almost impossible. In horses, a grass dwelling oribatid mite can harbour the parasitic Anoplocephala perfoliata tapeworm, present in even in well-managed fields and paddocks.

Critical to accurate faecal egg counts is the Faecal Flotation Solution, which must be of the correct specific gravity (S.G. or density) to separate the parasite oocysts from the animal faeces. Because different parasites require different specific gravity solutions, Vetlab Supplies offers bespoke and off-the-shelf faecal flotation solutions in 1 and 5-litre volumes saving your veterinary laboratory time, hassle and money while increasing reliability and accuracy.

Leaving The EU: Brexit and Britain’s Animal Business

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Les Ellison

As Britain looks toward a future separate from the borderless union of Europe, the question of whether or not the UK’s animals will be better off is still a hot topic of argument.

Historically, Britain was the first country to pass any form of animal welfare legislation. Known as Martin’s Act – after the MP and animal activist, Richard Martin, his 1822 bill outlawed the “cruel and improper treatment of Horses, Mares, Geldings, Mules, Asses, Cows, Heifers, Steers, Oxen, Sheep, and other Cattle.

Unfortunately, the 1822 bill failed to specifically mention bulls; an omission corrected in 1835 with the inclusion of bulls, goats, sheepdogs and bears. 170 years of further amendments followed culminating in the comprehensive ‘Animal Welfare Act’ of 2006.

European lawmakers have taken animal welfare very seriously

For all the criticism pitched their way, European lawmakers have taken animal welfare very seriously – notably in matters relating to farmed pigs and chickens. In 2012 the EU outlawed bare cages for battery hens, and banned movement-restricting sow stalls for pigs in 2013. What will happen to these EU directed laws, as Britain and the EU part company, has yet to be debated, let alone decided.

Tedious and time-consuming EU regulations might seem, they do offer a single and unified set of regulations imposed and accepted across almost the entire continent. Traders and travellers in each member country know what to expect and what is expected; which also provides an assurance of certified diagnostic testing standards for incoming and outgoing animals of every size and description.

The reality of Brexit will be a testing time for farming

The worry now, especially if other countries choose to break with the EU, is that each will devise and dictate its own independent set of rules and regulations. Widely differing standards of welfare, health certification and levels of diagnostic testing might seriously damage public trust in animal-based commerce resulting in misinformed calls for yet more, and poorly directed, legislation than ever before.

The reality of Brexit will be a testing time for farming, equine and pet-animal businesses. The veterinary profession, with the resources of the veterinary supplies industry, must be ready to provide a bedrock of expertise and reliability on which new and, hopefully, even higher standards of animal welfare, business security and international co-operation can be solidly built.

Year Round Or Block Calving: Balancing Herd Economics and Health

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Les Ellison

High infrastructure and feed costs, combined with continuing low milk prices, mean dairy farmers are moving toward block calving to increase their productivity – but at what cost?

In block calving, all the cows in a herd have their calves over a block of just a few weeks. This means a short but intense period of labour for farm workers, rather than the longer but less fraught activity when a herd’s calving is spread evenly through the year. Dairy farmers will plan their block calving for spring or autumn, and each season has its own set of advantages and draw backs.

Block calving can help farmers make the most efficient use of expensive infrastructure and plan for when pasture and silage is most economically available. However, it can also mean that an entire herd is temporarily out of milk production with the farm’s entire calving investment for a whole year resting on just a few weeks.

Calving in the spring or the autumn

Whether spring or autumn calving, a successful season will see a large number of new and vulnerable calves concentrated in a small area ripe for the growth and spread of pathogens. There are two particular diseases that place every new born calf at risk.

Cryptosporidiosis and coccidiosis are major diseases of new born calves causing debilitating weight loss, diarrhoea and even death. According to figures from the UK Government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA, 2012), 38% of cattle enteric diseases, isolated by veterinary laboratories, were identified as cryptosporidiosis, while another 18% could be attributed to coccidiosis.

Both diseases begin through the contamination of food, water or bedding with the infected faeces. In the case of cryptosporidiosis, the infective agent – the parasite’s eggs or ‘oocysts’, can persist in bedding for several months and even, for coccidiosis, from one year to the next.

Infective oocysts are resistant to most disinfectants and cleaning agents

The damage caused by infection is both long-lasting and irreversible. Licensed treatments are available but, as yet, there is no complete ‘cure’. Because infective oocysts are resistant to most disinfectants and cleaning agents, efficient management and constant vigilance are the only safeguards against infection and re-infection.

Clean housing, bedding and ventilation together, with raising feeding troughs above the ground, will reduce the chance of faecal contamination. A policy of low-density stocking supported by a regime of thorough cleaning and disinfecting immediately before and after the calving season, will also help limit the chances of re-infection year on year.

Whether your dairy farm is just coming out of its spring calving, or preparing for autumn calving, diagnostic testing of suspect animals now for cryptosporidiosis might help isolate a source of widening infection even before it begins.

Diarrhoea in New Born Calves Has Many Causes, But Which Do You Treat?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Les Ellison

Potentially fatal diarrhoea in newborn calves is easy to spot. But to treat it effectively, you need to know the cause and you need to know it right away. MegaCor FASTest® E.coli-k99 Veterinary Diagnostic Test Kits exclusively from Vetlab Supplies give you simple to use, reliable field tests for that critical early diagnosis.

The first 7-14 days of life are critical

Newborn calves are a vital economic resource for many UK livestock farms. Farmers and livestock managers depend on their veterinary professionals to get their calves through that critical first 7 to 14 days of life, when the young animals are at their most vulnerable to infection. Because many infections might cause the same debilitating symptom – such as diarrhoea, vets need accurate diagnostic kits to quickly differentiate between the many possible causative agents.

Untreated diarrhoea in newborn calves quickly leads to severe fluid loss and death from dehydration. Especially in remote situations, vets rarely have the time to return to their veterinary laboratories to carry out diagnostics tests to identify the causative pathological agent. Rotavirus, Coronavirus, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella, Giardia and enterotoxic strains of E.coli are all among the usual suspects that need to be quickly eliminated – or, when present, positively identified so effective treatment can begin.

Veterinary diagnostics are all about the assurance of accuracy

Non-pathogenic strains of E.coli are naturally and beneficially present in the digestive tracts of most animals including cows and calves. To detect and identify the toxic strains that cause life-threatening diarrhoea vets need a Veterinary Diagnostic Test Kit that’s reliable, quick, portable and simple to use out in the field without any specialist lab equipment.

Reliable 5 minute test

Vetlab’s FASTest® E.Coli-K99 Strip is the 5-minute test that gives a clear-cut colour-change reaction when pathogenic E.Coli K99 is present in a sample of calf faeces. Simply shaking a tiny sample of faeces in a tube, then dipping the FASTest® strip into the mixture is all that’s necessary. Watching the solution rise up the porous strip to the test line will indicate either a clear-cut positive result – shown by a strong pink/purple colour band, or a negative if no colour shows. There’s even a built-in ‘control test’ to assure you and your client farmer that the test is working accurately.

In the end, veterinary diagnostics are all about the assurance of accuracy. MEGACOR’s complete range of Veterinary Diagnostic Test Kits from Vetlab Supplies give veterinary professionals and livestock farmers that assurance in every test and for every valuable animal.

Toxoplasmosis – The Feline disease set to devastate UK Sheep farming!

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Les Ellison

Toxoplasmosis – caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, a well-known disease of domestic cats, is also a potentially devastating disease of sheep. A paper published in the Veterinary Record estimates that toxoplasmosis in sheep costs UK farmers about half a million lambs a year through premature abortion; a figure that translates to a financial loss of between £12million to £24million annually.

The Government’s own Veterinary Investigation Diagnosis Analysis lists toxoplasmosis as the highest cause of aborted lambs (29%) second only to Chlamydia abortus (47%) with an estimated 70% of all UK flocks already exposed to the cat-borne parasite (FlockCheck Data 2004).

Roaming cats spread the parasite

In the cycle of infection, domestic and feral cats act as the great distributors. The parasite reproduces in the cat’s gut before escaping in the faeces as dormant eggs or ‘oocysts’. When the cat kills and eats a rodent that’s accidentally ingested these cysts, the cycle starts over again. But when widely roaming cats spread the parasite onto pasture land, livestock bedding and animal feed, it’s often sheep that become the next host.

Once eaten by sheep, these dormant oocysts become active causing aborted or ‘weakly’ lambs, and sometimes infertility on a flock-wide scale. As a single cat dropping contains enough parasite to infect 100 ewes, and these oocysts can survive in a pasture for well over a year, it’s essential to know the level of infection within a flock.

Toxoplasmosis rarely causes any serious illness in humans

In cats, the disease is well known; with a range of mostly mild to moderate symptoms. In humans, toxoplasmosis rarely causes any serious illness, although people with weak or suppressed immune systems may be more at risk and, for expectant mothers, there’s an increased likelihood of premature birth or abortion if an infection is picked up early in pregnancy.

For human populations, the parasite’s main impact is on the commercial viability of livestock farming and its potential for disrupting the food supply by reducing availability and increasing prices to the consumer. For this reason, The European Food Safety Authority is recommending all EU member states to monitor T.gondii in farm animals.

The FASTest® TOXOPLASMA g kit from Vetlab Supplies provides a reliable blood test for antibodies created in response to infection facilitating early intervention and infection control. The paper’s authors, JP Hutchinson and RP Smith, conclude that: “farmers and veterinary surgeons should continue to promote appropriate husbandry and vaccination strategies,” The FASTest® TOXOPLASMA g kit could be an integral part of this strategy.

To find out more about our large range of veterinary diagnostic test kits visit our website: www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or Telephone: 01798 874567

Cattle testing history crucial to healthy herds urges chief vet for Wales

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Les Ellison

Christianne Glossop, Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, urged cattle farmers to demand sight of an animal’s disease and testing history before they buy or add new stock to their existing herds. Only complete and up to date testing records can give that vital assurance that a purchased animal is a healthy investment and won’t compromise the physical and commercial health of the present herd.

Speaking at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, Wales’ Chief Vet defined a range of measures that farmers should take to minimise the risk of infection when buying and selling cattle. Primary among those measures is the professional veterinary testing and recording of the disease status of any animal moving between herds.

Six Cattle Diseases With A Significant Impact

‘Farmers can help to protect their cattle from infection,’ said Dr Glossop, ‘starting with asking for the disease and testing history of an animal – and the herd it comes from – at the point of sale.’ Dr Glossop drew particular attention to six cattle diseases with a significant impact on the welfare of a herd and on the economic viability of a farm.

High on the Chief Vet’s list is neosporosis, caused by the parasite Neospora caninum, and the most frequently diagnosed cause of abortion in UK herds. Infected cattle joining a hitherto disease-free herd can pass on the parasite to their unborn calves which may then be aborted prematurely.

A Constant Risk Of Infection

The aborted material is likely to infect other animals. If the calf is born normally and survives, it will remain infected and infective for life. Because neosporosis can be transmitted through contamination with infected dog faeces even herds that have been free of the disease, and received no new animals, are constantly at risk of infection and should be monitored.

A quick and reliable test for neosporosis is available as a complete and ready-to-use kit from Vetlab Supplies. The FASTest® NEOSPORA caninum kit searches out antibodies created as part of an animal’s natural response to the invading parasite. A positive reaction with a sample of an animal’s blood offers early diagnosis and allows prompt treatment with an improved outcome for the tested animal and the chance to prevent the infection from spreading.

Safeguarding an animal’s health through professional veterinary testing and record keeping pays off not only in the economic return on the home herd, but in the value added to an animal offered for sale to another farm. Buyers who can inspect the full testing records of an animal, alongside his or her own expert judgement on its physical health, are more likely to pay premium prices.

To find out more about our large range of veterinary diagnostic test kits visit our website: www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or Telephone: 01798 874567

What is Bovine Coronavirus (BCV)?

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Les Ellison

Bovine Coronavirus, BCV, is an enveloped RNA virus that is one of the main causes of calf enteritis, Winter Dysentery in all ages of cattle, and is part of the Enzootic Pneumonia Complex affecting calves. Calf Enteritis and Winter Dysentery symptoms include watery diarrhoea progressing to bloody diarrhoea, anorexia, severe dehydration and death. Enzootic Pneumonia Complex symptoms are primarily respiratory: ocular and nasal discharge, fever progressing to pneumonia and death when combined with secondary bacterial infections and other viruses. Treatment of Bovine Coronavirus, like any viral infection, is symptomatic.

FASTest BVC diagnostic test kit is invaluable

Knowing that you are dealing with Bovine Coronavirus is mandatory in the field making the diagnostic test kit invaluable. Early detection allows for early treatment to begin lowering overall morbidity and mortality. Like many other enveloped RNA viruses, Bovine Coronavirus is fairly easy to kill with many common disinfectants. Testing for it and knowing that it is the causative agent, or one of many, can greatly help with controlling the spread of disease. Even testing healthy animals is a good idea if the farm is having a problem with disease. Seemingly healthy animals that are shedding the virus do not necessarily need treatment but they should be isolated from others, thus decreasing the transmission of disease and further lowering morbidity and mortality.

Results in less than 5 minutes

The FASTest BCV diagnostic test does not need to be refrigerated which makes it extremely easy just to toss in the truck and take to the farm. Not only do you not need to wait for it to reach room temperature, the test itself is fast, less than 5 minutes, making the entire test process lightning fast. So if “time is money”, this BCV diagnostic test kit will save you and your clients both. The accuracy of the FASTest BCV diagnostic test is unbeatable with a Sensitivity of 96.7% and a Specificity of 99.9%.

Since Bovine Coronavirus rarely acts alone, Vetlab Supplies also carries individual veterinary diagnostic tests for Cryptosporidium, E. coli, and Rotavirus. A combination test kit is also available through Vetlab Supplies that tests for Coronavirus, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, and Rotavirus in one test, known as the FASTest D4T Bovine Strip.

To find out more about our large range of veterinary diagnostic test kits visit our website: www.vetlabsupplies.co.uk or Telephone: 01798 874567

Category: Large Animals

Resistance Is Useless: Antimicrobials– Awareness, Behaviour and Diagnostics

Exposure to ineffective levels of antimicrobials

Improved public awareness and legislation

Laboratory scientists found that even resistant superbugs have an Achilles heel

Rinderpest Eradication – A Veterinary Success Story

The first outbreaks were recorded in Asia as far back as the 4^th century

The OIE began a programme of global rinderpest eradication

The OIE maintains a post-eradication role of monitoring and control