Chronic Diarrhea

Question 1

what are signs of mineral deficinecy in cows?

Answer 1

poor performance, vauge signs, sometimes diarrhea

Question 2

what is the most common mineral deficinecy in cows? what are clinical signs of this and how do you diagnose and treat these animals?

Answer 2

copper deficinecy!

either primary (not enough copper) or secondary (too much antagonist)

C/S: reduced hair pigment, diarrhea, weight loss, poor fertility

diagnosis: test liver levels, test the feed

tx: Copper supplement, mineral mixes/boluses

Question 3

what is Johne’s disease?

Answer 3

a chronic disease caused by mycobacterium avium supspecies paratuberculosis, affects more than 50% of dairy herds in western canada, possible link to Crohn’s disease in humans.

Question 4

how does Johne’s disease present?

Answer 4

in ADULT cattle more than 2 years old, chronic diarrhea, weight loss, edema (protein losing enteropathy), no blood, mucus, or fever.

Question 5

how do you treat Johne’s?

Answer 5

you can’t, gotta cull em

Question 6

3 ways to diagnose Johne’s? which 2 are used the most?

Answer 6

blood antiboody ELISA

fecal PCR

necropsy

Question 7

how is Johne’s disease spread?

Answer 7

caught as a calf, they shed it, then they experience disease as adults (it has a long incubation time holy cannoli)

Question 8

what is johne’s disease shed in?

Answer 8

feces, colostrum, milk, in uteruo maybe?? we don’t know

PERSISTS in ENVIRONEMENT

Question 9

pros and cons of the ELISA test vs fecal PCR for johne’s

Answer 9

ELISA: not as sensitive, but VERY specific, cheaper and quicker

fecal PCR: more sensitive, very specific, can possibly get an earlier pos result

fecal culture usually only used in research

Question 10

what test would you want to use to diagnose johne’s in each scenario:
- a high prevalence herd
- a low prevalence herd
- surveillance
- to confirm a case in herds with NO prior confirmed case
- to confirm a case in a confirmed positive herd

Answer 10

• ELISA
• PCR
• environmental or pooled fecal culture
• PCR
• ELISA

Question 11

for johne’s, what cow is most at risk and what cow is the riskiest?

Answer 11

at risk: just born calves with a + mother

riskiest: 4yo cow, slightly reduced production

Question 12

what are some ideas John gave us in class to decrease disease spread in a herd for Johne’s?

Answer 12

• identify which cows have it prior to calving–>infected cow only infects her own calf instead of several calves
• separate mom and have her calve in a separate area
• dont feed pooled colostrum, could infect several calves
• pasteurize colostrum

Question 13

what treatments and preventions are there for johne’s?

Answer 13

there is a vaccine that can limit shedding and disease but doesn’t eliminate it, and this can make seroligical testing redundant. it is not widely used

this is not widely accepted but: can use monensin prophylactically??