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Section 10. Agricultural sciences
Section 10. Agricultural sciences
Simonov Aleksandr Nikolayevich, Candidate of biological sciences, Associate Professor, Stavropol State Agrarian University E-mail: sialnik@mail.ru
Treatment of lambs with contagious ecthyma of sheep
Abstract: Copper sulfate and kreoline have detrimental effect on the causative agent of contagious ecthyma in vitro. Copper sulfate solutions in the concentrations of10 % and 15 % after a single application have an apparent therapeutic effect in lambs with contagious ecthyma of lips. Kreoline, as a therapeutic drug for virus dermatitis, turned out to be ineffective.
Keywords: contagious ecthyma, lambs, copper sulfate, kreoline, treatment.
Due to dissociation of federal and municipal veterinary services and difficulties in respect of timely and accurate veterinary statistics, one can form an impression about epizootic wellbeing with regard to certain infection diseases in Russia [1, 6].
Obtaining a proper breed and raising healthy young stock is one of the most important tasks of animal farming [2, 26]. To solve this task, timely and scientifically grounded performance of veterinary events aimed at disease control is required.
Contagious ecthyma occurs on the territory of Russia, particularly on the territory of the Siberian federal district [3, 49], Southern and North-Caucasian federal districts [4, 342-345], predominantly in the areas with dry climate [5, 85-88].
In the private sector, the animal owners do not want to perform specific prevention measures, thus, the major measures to fight a disease include general prevention events. Due to violations in their performance, therapeutic measures have to be taken as a result [6, 6-7].
Stationarity of a disease and steady problems at the farms with regard to this disease are explained by the peculiarities of sheep breeding [7, 55-58] and properties of a disease excitant [9, 58-59].
Economic damage caused to sheep farms is formed of the reduction of weight gain, fatness, growth and development retardation [8, 24] and, in separate cases, lethal outcome reaching 1.5-3 percent.
The struggle with them, especially at private part-time farms, is primarily based on the conduct of general prevention and therapeutic events in troubled flocks [10, 92-94]. However, it should be noted that many of therapeutic measures are effective only after preliminary removal of crusts and scald heads from the affected skin areas; repeated application of drugs is required for full recovery of ill lambs.
We tested the most available and cheapest drugs — kreoline and copper sulfate in water solutions in laboratory and production conditions.
In laboratory conditions, bioassay on lambs determined harmful effect on the virus of in vitro kreoline in three and five percent solutions and copper sulfate in 10 and 15 percent solutions.
Virus-containing suspension was made of crusts collected from lambs infected with contagious ecthyma on the base of the physiological solution of sodium chloride in correlation 1:10 in accordance with a method generally accepted in virus-related practice.
Prior to the application in the work, the virus-containing material was mixed in equal parts with solutions of copper sulfate and kreoline in the above indicated concentrations. It was maintained for 10 minutes under external temperature of10 oC and then, four healthy lambs aged 5.5 months were infected with the mixture. The lambs were infected by way ofrubbing the material in the wounded skin of the inner surface of thighs and on the chest behind the elbow joint. The virus-material mixed with the solutions of kreoline and copper sulfate was rubbed in on the right side and native material was rubbed in on the left side. The dose of virus material was 0.5 milliliters.
Changes in the infected areas in all lambs infected with virus-containing material mixed with the solutions of tested drugs were not observed within three weeks (observance period). Local vesicular-papulose process typical for contagious ecthyma developed in the areas of application of pure virus-containing material.
The results of the laboratory experiment enabled to conduct an experiment in in production conditions, in a flock with an acute outbreak of contagious ecthyma. 155 lambs out of 710 fell ill within 10 days. The disease went on severely. The skin of upper and lower lip of the ill lambs was affected fully. The lips were covered with rough crusts, which were difficult to separate from lower tissue. Some lambs were affected on the skin of nasal dorsum and chin.
The ill lambs were divided into five groups, two groups of 40 lambs and three groups of 25 lambs. Forty lambs were
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Treatment of lambs with contagious ecthyma of sheep
treated with 10 % and other forty were treated with 15 % solution of copper sulfate; two groups of 25 lambs were treated with 3 % and 5 % of kreoline solution and 25 lambs were under control.
Crusts and scald heads were removed from the affected areas of the half of the lambs treated with copper sulfate; the exposed surface was then moisturized with solutions with the help of cotton tampons. The second half of the lambs was treated without removing the crusts. Herewith, a part of them (20 animals) were treated with tampons and 20 of them were treated by way of moisturizing the affected areas by forceful plunging of a head in a vessel with 10 % copper sulfate solution.
The affected areas in the lambs treated with kreoline were sprayed with solutions from medicinal bottles.
The dynamic of observations of lambs revealed the therapeutic effectiveness of copper sulfate solutions. In lambs treated with copper sulfate solutions with preliminary removal of crusts or without removal, the crusts exfoliated partly or fully on the forth-sixth day after single treatment. The full recovery took place on the 10th day.
In the lambs treated with kreoline solutions, the improvement was not observed within a week period. They all were repeatedly treated with 10 % copper sulfate solution.
Control lambs that were not treated recovered in 18-25 days. But, during the period of illness, they lost weight and got notably behind in growth.
Thus, high therapeutic effect of copper sulfate solutions in the concentration of 10 % during contagious ecthyma in lambs was established in production conditions. Kreoline solutions turned out to be ineffective for these purposes, although, in laboratory experiment, they had a harmful effect on the virus. It is obviously explained by the fact that kreoline destroys virus particles getting in contact with them in the suspended matter. In natural conditions, the virus is hidden under solid dry crusts, which kreoline cannot penetrate through. Another important circumstance is that contagious ecthyma is often complicated with secondary microflora, among which there are agents that are not sensitive to kreoline.
Copper sulfate in cauterized concentrations kills many kinds of the concurrent microflora as well as cells of healthy tissue surrounding dead tissue and contributes to its rejection. Furthermore, having a non-specific pathogenic effect of the tissue cells, it contributes to weakening of inflammatory process creating favorable conditions for keratoplastic processes.
Thus, copper sulfate in 10 % and 15 % solutions and kreoline in 3 % and 5 % solutions have a fatal effect on the agents of contagious ecthyma unprotected by protein-based medium (crusts) under 10 minute exposure under the temperature of 10 °C. Copper sulfate solutions in the concentrations of 10 % and 15 % after a single application have an apparent therapeutic effect in lambs with contagious ecthyma of lips. Kreoline, as a therapeutic drug for virus dermatitis, turned out to be ineffective.
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