Characterization of Haemorrhagic Enteritis in Dairy Goats and the Effectiveness of Probiotic and Prebiotic Applications in Alleviating Morbidity and Production Losses

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate whether the disease complex for Haemorrhagic Enteritis (HE) in goats during the winter months is the same as described for Jejunal Haemorrhage Syndrome (JHS) in cattle. The further goal is to determine whether prebiotic and probiotic management strategies developed for JHS in cattle alleviate HE in goats. The clinical, necropsy and microbiologic findings were evaluated for goat cases during a natural HE outbreak. Bacterial pathogens were identified using selective media, biochemical tests, latex agglutination tests and DNA microarray. Feed components were evaluated for mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins. Common clinical signs included stary look, grinding of teeth, an odd twisting of the neck when standing, hind-limb paralysis, rumen stasis, no faecal pellets, profuse drooling and a 50% drop in milk production. A prebiotic/probiotic treatment resolved the symptoms in 14 of 28 goats, but new cases continued to develop. The most common morphologic diagnosis at necropsy was severe jejunitis with intraluminal haemorrhage or blood clots confirming HE. The corn silage contained mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins. There were mixtures of Shiga toxin -producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolated from the jejunum. The probiotic and prebiotic acted as anti-adhesive agents for STEC colonization in vitro. The prebiotic also acted as a mycotoxin binder in vitro. Removing the mouldy corn silage stopped the mycotoxicosis, but did not correct production losses. Adding a prebiotic or probiotic significantly increased milk production and body condition, but also decreased somatic cell counts. Results confirm that the disease complex for HE in dairy goats consuming mouldy feeds includes mycotoxins and STEC infection. The study also supports the use of prebiotics and probiotics to alleviate the morbidity and production losses associated with the mycotoxicosis.

Characterization and antibiogram of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic dogs in South Bengal, India

“…O6, O26 and O157 were detected to be haemolytic but O8, O101 and O153 were non-haemolytic on 10% sheep blood agar as per this study. These findings are also matching with the earlier reports by Beutin et al (1993), Rodrigues et al (2004), Manna et al (2005) and Baines et al (2011).…”

Aflatoxin, Fumonisin and Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infections in Calves and the Effectiveness of Celmanax®/Dairyman’s Choice™ Applications to Eliminate Morbidity and Mortality Losses

“…Interestingly, the ExPEC was almost absent from the tissue or digesta of the calves that succumbed to disease without warning in production site A. We previously reported STEC co-infections involved with HE in goats [20] and JHS in older calves and mature cattle [1,2]. The current study extends this list to include HE in calves less than one month old.…”

“…We hypothesized that if STEC mixtures did promote infection, natural disease outbreaks should have STEC co-infections. We initially examined natural JHS or HE cases in immature and mature ruminants [1,2,20] and a minimum of two genetically distinct STECs were involved in the co-infections. In the current study, we further extend the significance of STEC co-infections to include HE cases in immature calves.…”

Recent Advancement in Goat Nutrition

“…They are also associated with a greater impact on microbial populations and nutrient digestibility, as well as volatile fatty acid content [50]. Mycotoxins and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infections are part of the disease complex for Haemorrhagic Enteritis during the winter months when animals consume moldy feed, and studies have shown that they can be controlled by the use of prebiotics and probiotics [51].…”