We’ve all heard of vaccinations and getting shots so that you don’t get sick. Did you realize that in livestock they must get vaccinations to prevent certain diseases too? One of the biggest vaccination programs in the US is the Bangs Vaccination which helps prevent Brucellosis. Brucellosis is a major concern for the livestock industry because of the detrimental effect it could have. But in order to know how impactful it would be, you must first know what Brucellosis is, what causes Brucellosis, the symptoms of Brucellosis, and how Brucellosis is spread.
Brucellosis is a disease that originated on the island of Malta. According to M.S. Rahman, the first record of this disease was in 1859, when marston in his journal about a disease that was different from the usual typhoid fever that they were used to. He wrote about animals aborting and fevers within his shit crew, he even had his own experience with this disease. In 1884, David Bruce was able to separate Micrococcus melitensis from a human spleen.
The people that had this agent were fed raw milk from goats. Bruce made the connect that the people that were fed the goat milk got the disease from it. He then discovered the disease agent in 1886 and the disease was named after him. Brucellosis is a that affects mainly ruminant animals that is highly contagious. The main ruminants if effects are cattle, bison, cervids such as deer, elk, moose, ect., and swine. Many veterinarians identify this disease as Bang’s disease of contagious abortion. If this disease is found in humans it is known as undulant fever.
A strain of bacteria called Brucella is behind this disease. Veterinarians are mainly concerned with three different types of Brucella. These species include: B. Abortus, B. Suis, and, B Melitensis. This disease mainly affects the animals reproductive tract and mammary system.
Some of the symptoms that can occur are abortion, in which the calf if born dead, Premature births, this can be around 30-35 weeks before due date, reduction in milk production, Poor conception rates, the cows will have a harder time breeding and if they are bred they will have an increased chance of losing the pregnancy, and retained placentas. Retained placentas is where their uterus does not clean after having the calf, this causes the cow’s uterus to become infected and become toxic. This will eventually lead to death.
Direct interaction with exposed animals or with a facility that has contamination from discharges of infected animals. Some examples of contaminants include an aborted fetuses, placental membranes or fluids, and other vaginal discharges. Cows may digest feed or water contaminated with this disease from other animals. The most common way that non-exposed herds come into contact with this disease is when an animal or animals that have been exposed to this disease and spread it to the isolated herd.
As you can tell from learning what Brucellosis is, what causes this disease, the symptoms of the diseases, and how this disease is spread, you can tell how serious this disease. Within the livestock industry, there are many disease out there like Brucellosis that don’t have a cure only prevention through vaccination before they contract this disease. These diseases can have a detrimental impact on the livestock aspect of the agricultural industry
