Effect of breed on response to foot rot treatment in mature sheep and lambs
Abstract Our objective was to determine whether breed differences existed in response to exposure and treatment of virulent foot rot. Dorset (DS), 1/2 Dorper (DX), 3/4 or greater Dorper (DO), Gulf Coast Native (GC), Katahdin (KA), and St. Croix (SC) mature sheep and lambs were exposed to virulent foot rot in spring 2003. Treatment for foot rot was initiated in 132 lambs and 262 mature sheep in late July. There were eight pasture groups treated, two of which were minimally exposed to foot rot. Treatment included hoof paring, foot bathing with 10% zinc sulfate with surfactant, allowing the zinc sulfate to dry on the foot and moving to a small paddock that had not been exposed to small ruminants for more than 14 d. Foot bathing was repeated every 7 d for a maximum of five treatments. Animals that had not responded (odor or any indication of persistent infection) by then were culled from the flock. As an indication of severity of foot rot for each animal, the number of areas on the foot (interdigital and two digits for each foot), a foot score (0 = no infection found; 1 = infection of digits only; 2 = infection of interdigital area and could include digits), and presence of characteristic odor was recorded. Least squares means for number of areas infected were greater for mature than growing sheep (2.07 ± 0.16 versus 0.88 ± 0.31; P P P P P P P P
Comparative Evaluation of Traditional Herb and Conventional Treatment of Ovine Foot Rot in Ethiopia
The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of traditional herb, Amaranthus angustifolius (Aluma) and combination of Aluma and lemon, and conventional drugs, antibiotic spray and formalin for the treatment of foot rot. Eighty three infected sheep were selected and identified from seven different flock affected by foot rot, and divided into six groups. Sheep feet were inspected and foot rot lesions were scored at the beginning and end of the treatments. In addition sheep were inspected three times 30 days apart on Days 30, 60 and 90, and response to treatments were recorded. On day-30 the least square mean comparison for treatment response revealed that antibiotic spray had the best result of all treatments which significantly differ at p < 0.05 and the combination of Aluma and lemon resulted in the second successful recovery. A significant effect on lesion score was seen at the end of treatment period (p
Protection of sheep against footrot with a recombinant DNA-based fimbrial vaccine.
Recombinant Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells containing the Bacteroides nodosus fimbrial subunit gene under the transcriptional control of a strong promoter produce large amounts of B. nodosus-type fimbriae. We have carried out vaccination trials which show that these fimbriae are just as effective as either natural fimbriae or whole cell preparations of B. nodosus in inducing protective immunity against homologous footrot challenge. The recombinant-produced fimbriae are also effective therapeutically in accelerating the rate of healing of pre-existing footrot lesions. These results confirm that the structural subunit of the fimbrial strand is a primary protective antigen against footrot, and demonstrate the practicality and potential of recombinant DNA approaches to the development of new vaccines against B. nodosus and other Type 4 fimbriate pathogens.