In dairy farming, bovine tapeworm disease is one of the common diseases. There are three pathogens, one is Moniz tapeworm, the second is Taenia curvagos, and the third is Ovignon taenia, these three parasites live in the small intestine of cattle, of which Moniz tapeworm is more harmful to breeding cows, and if there are more than three tapeworms in the sick cow, it will cause mixed infection. Cows with the disease have decreased appetite, indigestion, and symptoms of diarrhea, which can have an impact on the normal growth and development of the cows that are bred, and can also lead to the death of the sick cattle.
1. Pathogen analysis
Moniz tapeworm is the main pathogen that causes taeniasis in cows, and tapeworm as well as tapeworm oviparabs can also cause taeniasis in cows. These three kinds of tapeworms will survive in the small intestine after entering the body of the cow, the pregnant egg node or egg of the tapeworm will be excreted together with the feces, and the six hooked larvae in the eggs will develop into a cysticercosis in its body after being swallowed by the ground mite, such as the pasture containing the cysticercosis, after being swallowed by the cow, it will pass through the digestive tract of the cow to the intestine, and attach to the intestinal wall and gradually grow into adult worms. The initial symptoms of infection in sick cattle are not obvious, and occasionally indigestion occurs. Some sick cattle also have significant clinical symptoms when infected with a small number of worms or only one large worm body, and can lead to the death of the sick cattle. When the infection is more severe, the diseased cattle will have secondary infection, at this time the clinical symptoms are more obvious, and death will occur after the disease worsens.
2. Clinical symptoms
At the beginning of taeniasis, the sick cattle have a decreased appetite, obvious thirst, and diarrhea symptoms. Examination of the stool reveals monez tapeworm segments or debris, or a cascade of segments visible in the anus. After the disease worsens, the sick cow will have symptoms of anemia, the body will become emaciated, the hair will be rough, and the luster will be lost. The toxins secreted by the insect body can cause poisoning in sick cattle, causing sick cattle to convulse or whirlwind movements, and the head of the sick cow is often thrown back. The insect body multiplies in the body of the sick cow to a certain number of clumps, which will cause intestinal obstruction, cause abdominal pain in the sick cow, and will infect peritonitis due to intestinal rupture, which will cause the death of the sick cattle. When the condition is severe, the sick cow often lies on the ground due to its weakness, the mouth is chewy, and a large amount of foam appears around the mouth. Sick cattle are unresponsive and the response to external stimuli is not obvious.
3. Changes in autopsy
On the autopsy of sick and dead cows, it can be seen that there are multiple worm bodies in the small intestine, with different body lengths, up to more than 3 m, and there is catarrhal inflammation in the parasite of the worm body. The mesenteric and lymph nodes of the sick and dead cattle have obvious proliferative changes, there are bleeding spots in the brain, showing a hemorrhagic infiltrative state, and there is bleeding phenomenon in the intestinal mucosa and endocardium, and myocardial degeneration can be seen.
4. Diagnosis
1. Check the pregnant joints and eggs in the feces
Take 5-10g from the feces discharged from the sick cattle, add it to 50-100g of saturated brine, evenly stir and use 60 mesh mesh screen filtration treatment to stand still for 30-60min, after the eggs float on the surface of the brine, use a wire ring with a diameter of 5-10mm to dip the surface liquid film, and then perform microscopic observation on the loading pad, and tapeworm eggs can be found in the liquid film.
2. Diagnostic deworming
Diagnostic deworming can be performed in diseased cattle that have not been excreted, eggs or immature tapeworms in vivo, and after feeding the drug, if the disease is found to be excreted and the condition has improved, bovine tapeworm disease can also be diagnosed.
5. Prevention and control measures
1. Therapeutic measures
Bovine tapeworm disease can be treated with prophiimidazole at doses of 5-15 mg per kilogram of body weight, and a water suspension is prepared in a 1:100 ratio, which can be treated orally. Niclosamide and praziquantel drugs may also be used for deworming. After deworming treatment, if diarrhea occurs in sick cattle, it can be treated with sulfa-methoxymethoprim and trimethoprim drugs, the first addition is 0.1g and 0.02g per kilogram of body weight, respectively, and then the dosage is halved, orally twice a day, and the continuous medication can be improved for 3 days. When diarrhea is more severe, 250ml of glucose with a concentration of 20% can be injected into a 1 L, 5% concentration of glucose saline injection, and then add 200ml of sodium bicarbonate with a concentration of 5%, twice a day intravenously, for three days. If the sick cow has systemic symptoms, 5 g of ceftiofuran sodium can be mixed into 20 ml of normal saline and treated by intramuscular injection once a day, three consecutive injections. If the sick cow has symptoms of blood in the stool, intramuscular injection of 1.25g of hemostasis can be relieved once a day for three consecutive days.
2. Preventive measures
In areas where taeniasis is endemic, deworming should be performed within 1-35 days of the start of grazing and every 10-15 days thereafter. Clean grazing grounds should be replaced after deworming. Rotational grazing with single-hoofed animals can effectively reduce the incidence of taeniasis in cattle. At the same time, the pasture can be comprehensively transformed, and the clover is planted after the pasture land is deeply turned over or the agricultural and pastoral rotation is implemented, which can reduce the ground mites in the soil layer and improve the quality of the pasture. In addition, do not graze in low-lying, wet areas and try to avoid grazing on rainy days to avoid breeding cows infected with bovine taeniasis.
In summary, after the cow in the breeding stage is infected with taeniasis, the growth and development will be affected, and it will cause death, bringing greater economic damage to the cattle farm, so the farmer should take effective measures to prevent it, by strengthening the diagnosis and analysis of the disease, do a good job of deworming work, reasonable grazing, and should take targeted drug treatment for sick cattle, reduce the incidence of taeniasis of dairy cows, in order to reduce the harm caused by taeniasis to dairy cows in the breeding stage, and ensure the economic benefits of cattle farms.
Name: Xiao Han Veterinarian