Rinderpest

• Also known as cattle plague.
• Belongs to Paramyxoviridae family.
• Acute, highly contagious disease of cattle.
• Characterized by high fever, Necrotic stomatitis, diarrhoea and high mortality.

a) Etiology:

• Morbili virus of Paramyxoviridae family.
• Susceptible animal includes cow, buffalo, goat, sheep.
• A close proximity is necessary for transmission of disease.

b) Spread of disease:

• Sweat, urine, Nasal discharge, faeces, etc.
• Infection occurs by inhalation of infected droplets and ingestion of contaminated feed.

c) Symptoms:

• High fever ( 104-105⁰F)
• Oculonasal discharge
• Severe diarrhoes accompanied by dehydration, emaciation ( Wasting of muscles) and abdominal pain.
• Ulcerative stomatitis, excessive salivation.

d) Various stages of rinderpest

i) Incubation stage:

• 2-15 days
• Virus finds its way to be virulent

ii) Prodromal stage:

• Fever followed by mucosal lesions
• Profuse serous nasal and lacrymal discharge

iii) Mucosal stage:

• Necrosis of mucous membrane

iv) Convalescent stage:

• Mucosa resumes is integrity.
• Diarrhoea may continue.

e) Diagnosis of rinderpest:

i) Presumptive diagnosis:

• On the basis of history of outbreak, clinical findings, gross lesions.

ii) Partial confirmatory diagnosis:

• Examination of WBC :- <4000 /ml.
• Presence of intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusions bodies.

iii) Confirmatory diagnosis:

• Isolation and identification of virus
• Detection of antibody by ELISA test.

iv) Differential diagnosis:

• FMD
• Blue tongue disease
• Mucosal disease

f) Transmission of disease:

• Infected droplets
• Close proximity between healthy and infected animal.
• Ingestion of contaminated food.

g) Treatment of disease:

• Rinderpest antiserum is injected 1 ml/kg body weight I/V at early stage or first day of fever.
• Antibiotics and chemotherapeutics to control secondary bacterial or protozoal infection.