Coccidiosis (Eimeriosis) is an infectious disease that affects mammals and humans, caused by primitive microorganisms of the Coccidia order, the Eimeria family. The infection invades the epithelial covers of the intestines, kidneys, liver, and other soft internal organs, causing severe exhaustion and decreased productivity in small cattle. If coccidiosis in goats is left untreated, mass mortality occurs.
Causes of coccidiosis in kids
Favorable conditions for the active reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms are high humidity and coolness.Infection of goats and sheep occurs mainly when grazing on wet pasture located in a lowland, floodplain or wetland area. The risk of an outbreak of coccidiosis increases when goats are kept in dampness and darkness, when animals pick up food from a damp and dirty floor, or when water is used from a standing reservoir for drinking.
The susceptibility of goats to coccidiosis increases with a decrease in immunity due to stress, poor nutrition, castration, and transportation. Cases of disease outbreaks become more frequent on rainy and chilly summer days, as well as during the spring transition from confinement to grazing on pastures. Coccidia can be spread by basement rodents, dipterous insects, and birds.
Kids and lambs become infected from mothers in whom pathogenic microorganisms multiply on the udder. More than 12 species of coccidia are the causative agents of coccidiosis in goats. Mixed infection predominates, when the animal’s body is attacked by several types of microbes at once, but Eimeria faurei and Eimeria arloigni are most often detected in goats.
The animal accidentally ingests the parasite's oocysts. In the intestine, oocysts release sporozoites, which attach to the epithelial intestinal lining or, once in the vascular bed, are carried with the blood throughout the body, settling in the tissues of the liver, kidneys, and other soft organs. There, through asexual division, they transform into a mobile form of existence - merozoites.
By destroying epithelial tissue, merozoites divide repeatedly. Then gametogony occurs - the formation of female and male cells. The germ cells fuse to form oocysts. Oocysts leave the host's intestines with feces to become the causative agent of the disease.
Symptoms of the disease
The incubation stage lasts at least a week, maximum a month. There is an acute, subacute and chronic course of the disease. Coccidia infect the epithelial lining along the entire length of the small intestine. In the foci of parasitic infection, inflammation occurs, leading to severe tissue degeneration.
In sick goats, the concentration of hemoglobin decreases, the number of normoblasts increases, basophilic punctation of red blood cells increases, hypochromic anemia develops, red blood cells change shape and size - signs of poisoning of the body with decay products. The functioning of the circulatory system and digestive tract is disrupted.
In adult goats and sheep, a lag in weight gain is detected by 23-25%, in lambs - by 15%, in kids - by 45-47%. Productivity is reduced by 35%. In acute form, coccidiosis occurs in kids and lambs for up to a year. The symptoms are severe, mortality is 10-25%, the sick animal dies after 2-10 days from infection.
Symptoms of acute coccidiosis:
- emaciation, anemia, pallor of the mucous membranes;
- exhaustion, weakness, inability to stand;
- diarrhea, disruption of the digestive system, refusal to eat;
- body temperature 40-41 °C;
- mucous and blood inclusions in feces;
- cramps of the neck and thigh muscles;
- conjunctivitis, rhinitis;
- reduction of red blood cells to 5 million per 1 mm3;
- drop in hemoglobin concentration to 35%.
Acute coccidiosis can become subacute or chronic. A chronic course with vague symptoms is observed in goats up to 2 years old.40-70% of infected individuals die.
Symptoms of the chronic form:
- anemia, thinness;
- short-term increase in temperature to 40 °C;
- diarrhea with mucus and blood;
- on the 8-10th day from infection, small gray warts appear on the face and ears (not in all goats).
Diagnostic rules
A veterinarian diagnoses coccidiosis using a set of methods. When making a diagnosis, the results of a laboratory study of goat feces and analysis of scraped tissues of internal organs are taken into account. The symptoms of coccidiosis in goats are similar to those of pasteurellosis, paratyphoid fever, and enterocolitis, but coccidia oocysts found in feces accurately indicate the disease.
Intestinal tissue scrapings are done from dead goats. In an animal that has died from coccidiosis:
- extreme degree of exhaustion;
- the anal area is soiled with liquid feces;
- the mucous membranes of the small intestine are inflamed over the entire surface;
- in certain areas of the internal intestinal walls, blood nodules and veins are visible, gray or gray-yellow balls the size of a millet grain - these are enlarged intestinal villi, in which coccidia actively multiply.
Treatment options
Infected animals are isolated. For therapy use:
- ichthyol solution;
- “Akrikhin” + “Plasmocid”;
- "Phenothiazine";
- "Albargin";
- "Norsulfazole";
- "Hexachlorane."
Treatment is carried out with any of the listed drugs or a complex, according to a strictly established scheme. To speed up the recovery of goats, it is recommended to increase the portion of concentrates in the diet and use vitamin supplements. Ichthyol 15% aqueous solution is given to goats and lambs 2-5 months of age, 60-80 ml once a day for 3 days. Then they take a 3-day break, after which two more similar courses of administration follow.
Akrikhin is given for 5 days, followed by a week-long break, after which the course is repeated. On the 1st day of each course, the daily dose is 4 tablets per 0.5 liter of water 2 times a day. On days 2-4 – 2 tablets 2 times a day. One 3-month-old goat takes 48 tablets per course. The reception of the “Akrikhin” + “Plasmocide” complex is similar. Tablets dissolved in 50 ml of water are given to goats orally. The course requires 48 tablets (“Akrikhin” - 4.8 g, “Plasmocide” - 1 g).
Norsulfazole is given at a dose of 5 mg per 1 kg of weight 3 times a day for 3 days. After a 3-day pause, therapy is repeated 2 more times. “Hexachloran” powder 10% is given to 2-3 month old goats at 200 mg per 1 kg of weight for 3 days.
The complex “Ichthyol” + “Phenothiazine” + “Albargin” is used to treat one-year-old goats. On the 1st day, an ichthyol solution is indicated (4 g of the substance per 150 ml of water), on the 2nd - “Albargin” (3 g), on the 3rd - “Phenothiazine” (10 g).
Prevention of coccidiosis
To reduce the likelihood of infection of goats with coccidiosis, observe the following preventive measures:
- Do not graze livestock in lowlands and wetlands.
- Do not allow animals to drink from a puddle, swamp, or overgrown pond.
- They practice driven grazing, changing areas every 10 days.
- They make a smooth transition from winter to spring maintenance.
- The food is placed in feeders rather than poured out on the floor.
- They keep the barn clean. Manure is collected in a timely manner and sent to storage.
Goats that have recovered from the disease do not develop immunity to coccidiosis; the animals remain carriers of the infection for a long time and are capable of infecting neighbors in the barn. Such goats are kept isolated and more thoroughly disinfected.
