Health
Blue tongue calves
Blue tongue is a disease that is caused by a virus.
Cause
Sheep- and cow diseaseBlue tongue is a disease that is caused by a virus. Although all ruminant animals can be the carrier of this pathogen, they will not all become sick. From the South-European countries is known that mainly the sheep can become very sick and they can also die from this disease. That is the case with about 10 to 30 percent of all the diseased animals. Mortality is not very acute. It takes at least eight days before a sick animal collapses. The extra ordinary feature of the first outbreak in the Netherlands and surrounding countries (dated August 2006) is that cows get sick too. Scientists are startled of that. In the Netherlands, multiple causes of Blue tongue are identified at cattle and even one bovine is succumbed.
The rest of the animals recover after a long time. Weeks, or even months can go by. However animals that survive, have lasting growth retardation and a reduced fertility. The virus is in the recovering animal still provable in the blood after a few months.
Description
Symptoms Blue tongue:The most outstanding symptoms of blue tongue are:
- fever
- sored mucous membranes
- loss of oral mucosa
- drooling and sniffling
- decreased appetite with as result weight reduction
- extremely good well bleeding and inflamed KROONRANDEN, whereby animals have a crippled walk
- rejecting
- thick and blue tongue
To this last symptom the disease can thank his name. Blue tongue can easily be confused with other diseases. Animals with foot-and-mouth, ecthyma (sore-mouth disease in sheep) or photosensitivity have similar symptoms. Blood tests should give the final result. The blue fading of the tongue is a result of oxygen deficiency. This phenomenon is called cyanosis. The proteins that normally take care of the oxygen supply in the blood became defective because of the virus.
That also declares the respiratory problems that come along with the blue tongue. Anyways, disease symptoms cannot always be detected. Blue tongue can also be subclinical. The animal can be infected, but will not always show illness symptoms. In sheep that is rarely the case, this corm occurs more at other ruminants. The transporter: gnat
Blue tongue is a viral disease that is transmitted by small insects. It’s not about mosquitoes, but midges (culicids). They live in peatlands and wet grasslands. They are notorious, because they also harass people. By the way, people cannot get blue tongue!
Treatment
Incubation time till 20 daysThe incubation time, that means the time between the infection and the appearance of illness symptoms, is between 5 to 20 days. The disease is the so called vector-borne disease, which means that the virus for the scattering is dependant of insects.
At blue tongue the scattering is specifically via biting insects. There are pointers that the infection can also go via sperm or embryos but that is not clear yet. Unborn embryos can catch this infection of their mother and can be born with the infection. The virus can also infect other animals through a blood transfusion. Antibiotics do not help
Animals with bluetongue do not benefit from antibiotics. That is not specific to bluetongue; no virus is sensitive to antibiotics. Bacteria dp. The reason why with viral infections antibiotics are prescribed is because ‘the one is often associated with the other’. The reduced resistance which the virus causes gives bacteria a chance to save their battle. The so-called secondary infections that are created can be combat and prevent with antibiotics. Evacuating healthy livestock preventive, to remove the pressure of the blue tongue virus, does not assist well. After all, not the animals but the midges take care of the infection. The meat of the infector and/or the sick animals can be eaten. Humans will not get hurt. Testing ruminants if they have the virus goes through serology (blood tests). The test is twofold; one part is a so-called PCR that detects the virus itself. The other part of the test is an ELISA, which proves the antibodies against the virus. Grafting is not an option
Grafting is currently not an option. The vaccines out there are the live vaccines. They consist of an alive but weakened virus. At other diseases this calls a violent reaction of the immune systems of the animals. The blue tongue vaccine makes the animal sick and even worse: contagious. It has been proven that midges can pick up the disease of the inoculated animals and take then again care of the infection.