Symptoms and treatment of hypodermatosis in cattle, preventive treatments

Parasitic diseases can cause significant harm to livestock, affecting cattle, as well as occurring in people in contact with farm animals. Most often, herds suffer from cattle hypodermatosis, which can cause significant material losses to livestock producers, as well as dangerous injuries to people.

For what reason does the disease occur

Hypodermatosis of cattle is a type of parasitic disease - entomosis, that is, a disease caused by the penetration of insect larvae into the tissues of the body, cavities and organs of people and animals. The cause of the appearance of cattle hypodermatosis is gadflies ("cattle flies") of two varieties:

1. Common subcutaneous gadfly.
2. Southern subcutaneous gadfly, or esophagus.

Both species are diptera flying insects, reaching 15 millimeters in adult form. They are capable of laying up to 800 eggs, mainly affecting cattle, but posing a threat to people related to animal husbandry or living in areas with large concentrations of cattle.

Insects lay their eggs on animal hair, choosing areas where it is most dense - this way it is easier for them to catch on to the body. Then, after 5 days, the larvae of the first stage hatch from the eggs, which are introduced into the flesh of the animal, moving along the vessels and nerve endings in the direction of the spine. There they penetrate into the spinal canal and are in it for six months to 9 months in the second stage.

After the specified period, they gnaw their way out, forming fistulas. After a day or three, they turn into pupae.

Symptoms of the disease

The bites of gadflies are extremely painful, so animals react to the very approach of insects and their attacks with increased nervousness, they can shy away and make sounds. When the gadfly larvae on the body of a cow or other animal gnaw through the passages, lumpy formations with inflammation of the surrounding tissues, exudate and suppuration become noticeable under the surface of the skin.

When mature larvae gnaw their way out, holes remain after them from the formed fistulas, which fester and inflame, causing severe suffering to the cattle.

Cattle hypodermatosis leads not only to outwardly noticeable signs of damage, but also causes a decrease in milk yield, weight gain, impaired appetite and behavior, provoked by insect attacks and the actions of larvae. If there are too many of them in the spinal canal, this can lead to muscle paresis and paralysis of the limbs, as well as to the death of animals.

How the problem is diagnosed

When diagnosing cattle hypodermatosis, it is necessary to distinguish its signs from lesions by other parasites, scratching, abscesses, bites, injuries. Diagnostics is carried out during the period of activity of gadflies, that is, from March to October.

Particular attention is paid to young animals born before May, as well as those animals that are kept for fattening.

Only a veterinarian with considerable experience can understand the manifestations of various diseases, therefore, examinations should be carried out regularly, because the only external significant sign of invasion is the presence of bumps on the back and lower back of cattle.

But the treatment turns out to be effective during the formation of the first stage larvae, therefore, prevention in the form of frequent examinations is the most useful method of combating infection of cattle with hypodermatosis.

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Treatment of hypodermatosis in cattle

The treatment procedure is divided into two stages associated with the periods of development of pests in the body of livestock:

1. The first treatment is carried out from mid-September to mid-November. In fact, it is a prophylaxis, since it allows you to protect the herd from the further spread of gadflies by killing adult larvae. For her, insecticides "Chlorophos" or "Hypodermin-Chlorophos" are used. They are applied with an automatic spray along the spine of cows and calves if more than 5 fistulas are found on their body from the passages of gadflies.
2. The second stage is carried out from the beginning of March to September for the extermination of larvae in the second and third stages of development. Areas of the skin with bumps and fistulas on them are treated for 2 weeks to make sure that the medicine has worked and no new bumps have appeared. In the latter case, the processing will have to be repeated.

An almost 100% guarantee of the death of larvae of all ages is provided by the use of antiparasitic drugs based on ivermectin. Treatment with organophosphorus preparations based on chlorophos works just as well. All of these products must not be used on cows during lactation, as they end up in milk.

Harm to livestock

Each subcutaneous gadfly is capable of laying several hundred eggs, which leads to massive damage to domestic animals. This means that any herd can be affected - and huge quantities of cattle raised commercially for meat and skins, as well as animals from individual farms and villagers.

When infected with gadflies, animals have a sharp decrease in appetite, which means that they gain weight more slowly, give off milk worse and later enter the stage of puberty. Herd owners suffer huge losses due to shortage of production and death of cows and other animals caused by cattle hypodermatosis.

Effects

The defeat of cattle hypodermatosis has the following consequences:

1. Reducing milk yield in a dairy herd can reach 40-60%. During treatment, it is impossible to use the resulting milk for food and for feeding calves and other young animals.
2. Damage to the skin by cones and fistulas due to gadflies leads to the depreciation of these products, which can ruin a company oriented towards this or cause significant material damage to it.
3. Juveniles fed for slaughter suffer from poor appetite, are worried and nervous. The result is a shortage of mass, and the farm will lose part of the planned profit.
4. With a severe defeat, many animals may die, which threatens ruin.
5. Enterprises specializing in the sale of young breeding animals are losing their income due to the ban on the export of livestock from areas affected by gadflies.

All these factors indicate the need for a systemic fight against cattle hypodermatosis as a source of great damage to the national economy of the country.

Prevention measures

It is extremely difficult to avoid infection with gadflies, but you can try to reduce the damage caused to them and reduce the mass incidence of cattle hypodermatosis. To do this, you must perform the following actions:

1. The purchased animals must be treated with special preparations against cattle hypodermatosis before they are allowed into the premises or for walking, where the rest of the herd is kept.
2. Carry out preventive treatment in the autumn-winter time to destroy the larvae of the first stage.
3. Do not graze the affected cattle and do not sell animals with signs of cattle hypodermosis to other areas.
4. Burn manure from a diseased herd, excreted during the active emergence of mature larvae.
5. Observe cleanliness in the premises and on pastures, avoid mass gathering of animals on small areas of land.

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Since subcutaneous gadflies are common everywhere, with the exception of the Far North, it is difficult to avoid infection. The only effective way is the prophylactic treatment of young animals and the whole herd with specialized preparations.

Danger to humans

Cattle hypodermatosis refers to diseases that are dangerous to humans. Most often, infection occurs through contact with sick animals or when located in areas with large concentrations of cattle, for example, in pastures, farms, in areas where subcutaneous gadflies are widespread.

Infection occurs according to the following scheme:

1. Female gadflies lay their eggs by attaching them to hair on their head or body.
2. The hatched larvae of the first stage of development are introduced into the subcutaneous fatty tissue and move along it over considerable distances. They can travel up to 12 centimeters in half a day. At the first stage of infection, this happens painlessly and unnoticeably for the victim.
3. The next stage in the movement of the larvae, and they move up the body, are cyanotic or reddish inflamed marks on the skin, which disappear in the same place in a couple of days, and then appear again, but on a higher area of ​​the skin.
4. Having moved to the area of ​​the shoulder blades, shoulders, neck and head, the larvae move on to the next stage. They molt, forming a special chamber around themselves, like a pupa, protecting them from external influences. The capsule is filled with liquid, and after a couple of days it is opened with a fistula. The hole is necessary for air to enter the larva.
5. There may be several larvae if a person has undergone repeated bites.

The disease is characterized by severe itching, inflammation and the spread of infection. If only the skin and subcutaneous fat are affected, the gadfly larvae can be removed surgically. It is much worse if the introduction occurred in the area of ​​the eyes, nose, ear canal, mucous membranes. This can cause many dangerous diseases, including the development of blindness, deafness, as well as death if the larva enters vital organs, for example, the liver, lungs, brain or spinal cord.

In the absence of pronounced external signs, it is possible to diagnose cattle hypodermatosis in humans by serological reactions, since when the larvae enter the body, specific antibodies begin to be produced.

Treatment consists in the surgical removal of gadfly larvae, in taking Ivermectin orally and in using Aversectin in the form of an ointment for external use at the sites of local distribution of parasites.The impact should be complex, carried out as directed and under the supervision of a physician, since the drugs are toxic and have a list of contraindications and side effects. Cattle hypodermatosis is a disease that threatens the health and life of not only livestock, but also people, therefore it is necessary to fight it using all available methods.