We don't get to see people who keep cattle as pets on a daily basis, over here in my country, they are kept as farm animals, but there are families who also grow some sort of strong bond with their goats, which is quite rare but very available too.
Anaplasmosis is what I will be writing about today, it is an infection that affects ruminant animals. It is caused by obligate intraerythrocytic bacteria. Humans also get anaplasmosis but not from cattle, although caused by a related bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum, also transmitted through the bites from infected ticks.
Anaplasmosis is a blood cell parasite of cattle that has a worldwide distribution but is very common in subtropical and tropical regions. The means of transmission of the disease makes it more prevalent during fly and tick seasons. There could be a more serious outbreak of the disease when innocent animals are moved into a herd imposed by the virus.
Although cattle are the major bearers of this disease, other domestic and wild ruminants could also get affected, the difference however is that, in this case, the clinical signs are often not common. Cattle of every age are prone to infection, but how severe the disease would get is also highly dependent on the age of the cattle.
Calves up to 6 months of age are usually resistant to clinical diseases, then from 6 months until about a year, they begin to develop some form of mild illness. After the occurrence of an infection, calves may become asymptomatic carriers of the disease.
Cattles of around 1-2 years, could develop serious clinical disease which is usually less fatal. At this point, signs like fever, rapid shallow breathing, pale mucous membranes, going off feed, and difficulty for the cattle to walk are usually observed.
When the cattle are above 2 years of age, they could then begin to develop a form of acute clinical disease that would be followed by sudden death. Other clinical signs of a cattle with anaplasmosis include; fever, serious anemia, weakness, absence of appetite, respiratory unease, constipation, sudden reduction in the production of milk, abortion, hematuria, severe anemia, and eventual death.
When an animal dies as a result of Anaplasmosis, it shows symptoms suggesting the presence of the disease, symptoms like; an enlarged soft spleen with prominent follicles, thin watery blood, epicardial and pericardial petechia, an enlarged liver with a yellow-orange discoloration and a lot more.
The Anaplasmosis organism is spread when blood is transmitted through a carrier animal to a susceptible animal. In most cases, the transmission happens when the ticks or flies that have the ability to carry the disease take out blood from an infected animal, and then transfer it to another animal transferring blood.
The Anaplasma organism then gets multiplied in the bloodstream and gets attached to the red blood cells, making it possible for the body to destroy the infected red blood cell. When this happens eventually, the red blood cells are destroyed a lot more faster than the body is able to make them.
Carrier animals pose a lot more danger, as they increase the chances of other animals getting infected while they themselves do not look sick. These carrier animals, do not pose any threat to humans even when they enter the food chain. A healthy-looking carrier animal, sold as breeding stock can cause the disease to spread to other herds that were previously uninfected. Carrier animals will remain infected for life as they often go unnoticeable and cannot be treated for the elimination of the disease.
The moment anaplasmosis finds its way into the herd, it is usually difficult and expensive to control and treat, an infected animal will remain a carrier for a lifetime and they are a reservoir for organisms in the herd.
Some areas have the vaccine already, while others do not have an approved one yet, but even the approved vaccine does not completely prevent the disease, instead, it reduces loss through death.
The treatment should be administered at the early stage of the disease, in order to address available serious clinical signs, this will help improve the health of the animal and make it available for slaughter, helping the farmer save some financial cost.