Measures to prevent and treat hemorrhagic septicemia

During the rainy season, livestock farming is severely affected by food shortages and disease outbreaks, with disease being the biggest cause of losses. To minimize losses, farmers need to know how to prevent and control common livestock diseases during the rainy season. We would like to introduce to you methods for preventing and treating hemorrhagic septicemia.

* Causes and modes of transmission of the disease

- The disease is caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, and the source of infection is through food, water, or waste from sick animals to healthy animals.

- The disease can also arise from bacteria already present in the digestive or respiratory tract of livestock when the weather changes suddenly, or when livestock are sick and their resistance is reduced, creating conditions for Pasteurellosis bacteria to develop and cause disease.

- In our country, the disease occurs sporadically throughout the year and in all regions, but it is most prevalent during the rainy season and floods because the bacteria spread through water and contaminate food.

* Symptoms: The disease is usually acute in cattle, with an incubation period of only 1-3 days. The animal exhibits the following symptoms: lack of rumination, lethargy, sudden high fever of 40-42°C; continuous tearing and nasal discharge; dark red or grayish congestion in the mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth, nose, and subcutaneous tissue.

- The throat swells, forcing the animal to stick its tongue out to breathe, with very forceful breathing, often referred to as "two-tongued cattle disease." The animal has difficulty walking due to swelling of the lymph nodes in the shoulder and thigh.

- Some livestock with the intestinal form of the disease exhibit symptoms such as severe diarrhea, bloody stools, and sloughed-off intestinal cells.

- Near death, sick cattle lie paralyzed, urinate blood, have great difficulty breathing, and experience bleeding in the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. The disease progresses within 3-5 days, with a mortality rate of 90-100%; if septicemia occurs, death is faster, within 1-1.5 days. In severe cases, also known as peracute form, the cattle suddenly develop a high fever of up to 42°C, become aggressive and frenzied, bang their heads against the barn walls, and die quickly within 24 hours. Those that survive will develop chronic disease, with alternating diarrhea and constipation, arthritis, and chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. The animals may recover within a few weeks but are usually emaciated.

* Prevention and treatment: Annual vaccination against hemorrhagic septicemia is required every 6 months, and should be administered before the rainy season using one of the following vaccines:

+ The vaccine is a mixture of formaldehyde and alum colloid, injected at 3-5ml/dose. Immunity develops after 5 days and lasts for 6 months.

+ Emulsified vaccine, 5ml injection dose, immunity develops after 7-10 days and lasts for 6-8 months.

+ Attenuated vaccine, injected 1-2ml, provides immunity after 7 days, lasting 4-6 months.

- Ensure adequate food supplies for livestock before the rainy season and provide good care and nutrition to ensure their resistance to disease.

(According to the Hanoi Center for Agriculture Promotion) - LY