Prevention and treatment of Clostridium welchii Disease in Sheep

From February to March 2002, lambs less than 2 months old suddenly fell ill in a certain city. They were treated for less than 2 hours and died because the treatment was ineffective.

1 clinical symptoms

The sick sheep were isolated, crawling alone, unwilling to move, weakness and dyskinesia during forced exercise, abdominal swelling, mild symptoms of lying down, difficulty in defecation, acute weight in the other, black and soft stool, mixed mucus and exfoliated mucosa, and blood between them. The body temperature of one sheep was 38.5 ℃, the other two were 40.5 ℃ and 41.2 ℃, pulse 80 times 100 times / min, breathing 20 times 30 times / min. The sick sheep were extremely exhausted and died within 2 hours.

2 pathological changes were examined by autopsy

Visible mucosal cyanosis, hyperemia, bleeding, sticky feces around the anus, and blood, rectal mucosal congestion, bleeding. The true stomach has hemorrhagic inflammation, gastric fundus mucosa and pyloric mucosa have hemorrhagic plaques of different sizes, surface necrosis, intestinal mucosal congestion and bleeding. The content of duodenum is porridge color, submucosal tissue edema, obvious hyperemia, bleeding lesions, liver enlargement, fragile texture, such as cooked, epicardium with needle-like bleeding spots.

3Diagnostic

3.1 the sheep had a sudden onset, a short course of disease and a quick death. True gastric bleeding and necrotizing inflammation were initially diagnosed as clostridium welchii.

3.2 the disease materials were sent for examination at the School of Animal Science, military University of the Chinese people's Liberation Army, and the disease was diagnosed as sheep fast epidemic (Clostridium welchii).

3.3 differential diagnosis: infectious diseases similar to sheep fast plague include sheep catarrh, lamb dysentery, and lamb toxemia. The pathogens are all Clostridium.

The fast epidemic of sheep is caused by rotten Clostridium; enterotoxemia of sheep is caused by Clostridium welchii type D; the pathogen of sudden diarrhea of sheep is caused by Clostridium welchii type C; the pathogen of lamb dysentery is Clostridium welchii type B. The symptoms of these diseases are similar, we must do a good job in epidemiology, clinical symptoms, autopsy investigation and examination, can be a preliminary diagnosis, and then according to bacteriological examination can be diagnosed as sheep fast disease.

4 treatment

With a large number of antibiotics, sulfonamides, cardiotonic, fluid replacement, intestinal disinfection and other treatment, due to the acute onset, short course of disease, some even died without seeing the disease, the general effect is not good.

5 experience

5.1 Prevention and control measures to be taken in sheep breeding farm

5.1.1 the ewes were immunized with quadruple vaccine twice in December last year and June this year, which formed strong antibodies and there was no epidemic.

5.1.2 the lambs under the age of half a year and over 2 months old were also injected with the quadruple vaccine of 2~3mL.

5.1.The lambs under 32 months old also obtained some metastatic antibodies by eating colostrum.

5.2 cause of death

The lambs who died were lambs under 2 months old. The main cause of death was that the transfer antibodies obtained from colostrum gradually decreased to disappear with the increase of age, and the other was that the immune system of the lambs was not perfect and the vaccine could not produce strong antibodies, which could not resist the attack and invasion of wild poison.

To sum up, in order to ensure the healthy development of lambs, it is necessary to do a good job in the immunization of ewes with prenatal quadruple vaccine, so that lambs can obtain strong transfer antibodies, and drug prevention should be taken before vaccination after the decrease of maternal antibodies of lambs. lambs must be immunized with quadruple vaccine in time to reduce undue loss.