Mortality pattern and infectious causes of mortality in kids and lambs in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

A study was conducted to diagnose the infectious etiology and associated pathomorphological changes in kid and lamb diseases. During the study period out of the 609 kids and lambs examined, 107 were affected with various diseases of which 31 were died. The morbidity and mortality rate in kids were 25.4% and 26.6% respectively. In lambs, the morbidity and mortality rate were 12.6% and 31.9% respectively. Samples collected from dead animals were subjected to laboratory examination for isolation and identification of pathogens. Out of 31 samples from dead animals, bacterial pneumonia (87.09%) accounted for major cause of mortality. In the bacterial isolates obtained from lung swab, Escherichia coli was detected in highest number of cases (61.29%) followed by Pasteurella spp. (16.12%), Staphylococcus spp. (9.67%), Mycoplasma spp. (6.45%) and Capripox pox virus (3.22%). From the study it was confirmed that E. coli was the major cause of bacterial pneumonia causing mortality in kids and lambs.