Back to: Animal Husbandry SS 3
Welcome to today’s class!!
We are thrilled to have you in our class!!
In today’s Animal Husbandry’s class, we will be learning about Diseases Causing Agents, Mode of Transmission.
Diseases Causing Agents, Mode of Transmission
Like humans, farm animals are also threatened by diseases. While we guard against these diseases, farm animals can also be helped from getting endangered by diseases and their agents.
It is the responsibility of farmers to watch out for these diseases causing agents and their mode of transmission.
Let’s take a look at some of the common diseases causing agents and their mode of transmission.
- Anthrax
Anthrax, a highly infectious and fatal disease of cattle, is caused by a relatively large spore-forming rectangular shaped bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax causes acute death in ruminants.
The mode of transmission is through a bacteria that produces extremely potent toxins which are responsible for the ill effects, causing a high mortality rate. Signs of the illness usually appear 3 to 7 days after the spores are swallowed or inhaled. Once signs begin in animals, they usually die within two days.
Hoofed animals, such as deer, cattle, goats, and sheep, are the main animals affected by this disease. They usually get the disease by swallowing anthrax spores while grazing on pasture contaminated (made impure) with anthrax spores. Inhaling (breathing in) the spores, which are odorless, colorless, and tasteless, may also cause infection in animals and people.
- Rabies (Mad Dog Disease)
Rabies is a disease of dogs, foxes, wolves, hyaenas and in some places, it is a disease of bats which feed on blood.
The disease is passed to other animals or to people if they are bitten by an animal with rabies. The germs which cause rabies live in the saliva of the sick (rabid) animal. This is a killer disease but not every dog which bites is infected with rabies.
This can be transmitted when the rabid animal bites another animal or human, the germs which live in its saliva pass into the body through the wound caused by the bite. The germs travel along the nerves to the brain. The time between the bite and the first appearance of signs that the bitten animal or human has been infected can take from 2 to 10 weeks or more.
- Foot And Mouth Disease
The foot-and-mouth disease is a highly communicable disease affecting cloven-footed animals. It is characterized by fever, formation of vesicles and blisters in the mouth, udder, teats and on the skin between the toes and above the hoofs. Animals recovered from the disease present a characteristically rough coat and deformation of the hoof.
The disease spreads by direct contact or indirectly through infected water, manure, hay and pastures. It is also conveyed by cattle attendants. It is known to spread through recovered animals, field rats, porcupines and birds.
In summary, anthrax is detected through a bacteria that produces extremely potent toxins which are responsible for the ill effects, while the foot and mouth disease spreads by direct contact or indirectly through infected water, manure, hay and pastures.
Evaluation
Identify five Farm Animal Diseases
Reading Assignment
Give three Diseases Causing Agents and their mode of transmission.
Weekend Assignment
Explain the treatment for any two Farm Animals Diseases
We hope you enjoyed today’s class. In our next class, we will be learning about Livestock Parasites and Pests.
Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comment section, and we will attend to them as fast as we can.
Get more class notes, videos, homework help, exam practice on Android [DOWNLOAD]Get more class notes, videos, homework help, exam practice on iPhone [DOWNLOAD]