Preventive measures of disease

a. Start with healthy stocks: – Animals must be rigidly examined for abnormalities, signs of illness, must come from reliable parental stocks and must be under isolation for a minimum of 30 days after purchases.

b. Isolation: – Isolation means segregation of animals which are known to be or suspected to be affected with a contagious disease from the apparently healthy. Segregated animals should be housed separatly in isolation pen.

c. Quarantine: – Quarantine is the segregation of apparently healthy animals (especially newly brought) which have been exposed to the risk of infection from those animals which are healthy and unexposed to the risk of infection. Quarantine period of 30 days covers almost all disease. During the quarantine period animal should be thoroughly screened for parasite infection by faecal examination and deworming carried out on the 23rd / 24th day. The animals should also be subjected to dipping or spraying on the 25th / 26th day.

d. Vaccination: – Vaccination is a practice of artificially building up in the animal body immunity against specific infectious diseases by injecting biological agents called vaccines.

e. Elimination of carriers: – Animal apparently in good health harbours the organism in its tissues. Such germ carrying animals are known as carriers. Causative organism is eliminated from the body sooner or later of the carriers.

• Provide adequate quantity ration since well-nourished animal do not only perform better but are more resistant to infectious and parasitic agents.
• For the unconfined stock or pastured herd with a high incidence of liver fluke deworming with effective flukicide every 3-4 months will help to control these parasites.
• Give optimum protection from environmental stresses by providing proper housing and clean water supply.
• Prompt waste disposal should be done to rid houses and pens of pests and insects which thrive on manure and other wastes.
• Graze in pasture relatively safe from infective stages of internal parasites particularly liver fluke. For the latter, snail control and pasture management should be complimented with regular deworming with an effective flukecide.
• Deworm regularly for the gastro-intestinal parasite.

f. Parasite: – Parasite is an organism that lives in or on another organism derives substances from it without rendering any benefit to it. It derived from word parasite. Para means beside and sito means food. Helminth and protozoa are important parasites causing pathological changes in the body of animals and man. Helminth is derived from the Greek words helmins or helminthos a worm which applied to those parasites belongs to phylum (1) Platy-helminthes (flukes, tape worms and flat worms) and (2) Nemathelminths (round worms).

g. Ectoparasite: – They are those parasites which live on the body of host e.g. Ticks.

h. Endoparasites: – They are those parasites which live inside the body of host e.g. Nematodes, Trematodes etc.

i. Host of parasite: – An organism which harbours the parasite e. g. Cattle, man, birds etc.