Sheep, Reindeer and Malignant catarrhal fever

Re: Sheep, Reindeer and Malignant catarrhal fever

Michael Woodhouse — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:28:08 GMT

You have to love the crazy clients!

There are many millions of sheep in contact with cattle and MCF is a rare disease, so the risk is very small. There's no vaccine so there's nothing you can do about it - other than keep them separate. It's spread in sheep snot so avoid direct contact if she wants to be really anal about it!

It one of those diseases that we can't do much about. I once saw 2 cases on a single farm but there were a thousand sheep in contact with a hundred cows - why so sporadic?

She needs to add a couple of alpacas to her crazy collection to take her mind off things............

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]So far ours have clostridial vaccs and BTV but would be interested to know what others use routinely (and at what frequency)[/quote]

Dealt with a few commercial deer herds in the past that received no vaccinations.

TBH - even if we had a MCF vaccine I can't see us selling a prevention for such a rare disease.........

Re: Sheep, Reindeer and Malignant catarrhal fever

Marie Kubiak — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:02:31 GMT

As a slight tangent, what is everyone vaccinating reindeer herds against? So far ours have clostridial vaccs and BTV but would be interested to know what others use routinely (and at what frequency)

Marie

Re: Sheep, Reindeer and Malignant catarrhal fever

Richard Fox — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:06:18 GMT

We published a case of MCF in a goat recently: http://vet.sagepub.com/content/47/4/760.abstract

"In the United Kingdom, the form usually seen is sheep-associated MCF owing to infection with OvHV-2. Sheep-associated MCF has been described in goats in the United Kingdom and Germany". Sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever (SA-MCF) is found in reindeer so the risk is there but I am not sure how high it is in a closed unit? Does she have a high turnover in her sheep?

More info here (free pdf) : http://library.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/resources/global/contents/VET164623/EAZWV/Ebeltoft%20PDF/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Kiupel.pdf

For prevelance maybe see if you can get this journal? : Malignant catarrhal fever in sika deer (Cervus nippon) in the UK - The Veterinary Record 2009;165:445-447

Re: Sheep, Reindeer and Malignant catarrhal fever

Mark Holmes — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:05:10 GMT

My understanding is that the only place Reindeer do well in the UK is on top of Cairngorm as its the only place bleak enough for the lichens, on which they are designed to live, to live. They do appear to be highly susceptible to MC but also other parasites and diseases easily handled by more suitable livestock. (on better suited diets) They are also noted for being aggressive when in rut so bear this in mind when called out to examine them for all their health problems... good luck