Anaplasmosis season is here.

[Lucky_P]

Took in the first two Anaplasmosis cases of the year today - one right behind the other.
Clinical history was: "This cow was fine yesterday, dead today."
In all likelihood, she probably wasn't 'just fine' yesterday - but unless you're actually LOOKING at individual animals, you might not notice them moving slow, or being lethargic, or breathing rapidly(pretty common in the heat, even if they're not sick).

Both cows had yellow connective tissues, huge pulpy spleens, and hard, dry, mucus-coated feces - looked a lot like horse fecal balls.
One was so rotten that I'll likely not be able to definitively confirm Anaplasmosis, but there's not much doubt in my mind that that's what she died of. Second one was quite a bit fresher, and I was able to see the organisms on RBCs in stained impression smears of the spleen.

Be on the lookout for cows moving slow, hanging back, etc.

 

[Nesikep]

Do you know much about the locales it is prevalent in? I'm going to guess hot places? does humidity factor in? We haven't had any problems with it here, just like knowing about it

 

[MistyMorning]

We have seen many cases of anaplasmosis, with dogs and humans, every year it gets worse. I haven't heard of any cattle with it yet.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Where I am, in this part of Va., its been found in dogs, people and horses.

 

[KNERSIE]

Is it tick borne there, too, Lucky-P? We get the tick borne type here as well as the dry gallsickness, the tick borne is a whole lot worse than the other.

 

[inyati13]

Is it tick borne there, too, Lucky-P? We get the tick borne type here as well as the dry gallsickness, the tick borne is a whole lot worse than the other.

KNERSIE: Dr Darin Stansfield gave a presentation in Mason County about 2 years ago. It is tick borne but can also be transmitted by other biting insects such as horseflies. The tick is the primary vector.

Stansfield said it has spread due to the introduction of cattle that are carriers. With the boom in cattle prices, cattle are being moved more than previously. Transmission from cow to cow with a needle that is contaminated by a "carrier" cow is a significant pathway.

 

[inyati13]

Disclaimer: Not providing direction. This is my protocol. I like snakes but my strongest academic suit was Entomology. Including Medical Entomology, parasitology, invertebrate zoology. In fact, I took more course work in this field than I did in the field of vertebrate zoology.

I do not like the idea of putting antibiotics in the free choice loose mineral. First, it is hard to find minerals with the required levels. Second there is no way to control the consumption.

Protocols I employ:

A. Keep cattle sprayed with fly control. I apply a Permithrin based product with a pump sprayer. I apply a fairly thick spray. My cattle are docile so I can do it any where. Make sure to get their legs and feet. If you keep the vectors off, you decrease the chances of transmission. The spray will become cumulative. I hardly see any insects on my cows by the end of June.

B. Maintain up-to-date regular applications of a parasiticide. Thus, ticks and biting parasites are also controlled. I have found dog ticks or wood ticks on my cows that are dead but still attached because the blood stream levels of parasiticide killed them. I see the same thing on Blue. I groom my cows, so I see anything on them. As Lucky has stated, you may not be seeing the nymphs or smaller parasites, but if you consider the more abundant wood/dog tick as a proxy for blood suckers, then I seem to be keeping them off.

So far no sign of anaplasmosis in my herd. If I ever have one, I will reevalaluate.

 

[wbvs58]

We have Anaplasma marginale as part of our tick fever complex but we only seem to get it with the tick as the vector. We have pretty well defined tick areas along the coast and then once up on the range we are tick free. There are stock movement restrictions into free areas, they have to pass through clearing dips before coming up the range. It is heavily policed and monitored and seems to work well.
So I can sell bulls down to the coast without risk I vaccinate my weanling bulls with a live 3 germ attenuated vaccine (Babesia bigemina, babesia bovis and Anaplasma marginale). It is a one dose vaccine made up on order and has to be used straight away but is very effective. You do get the occaisional reaction of high temp even up to a couple of months after and they have to be treated for tick fever. I have a yearling bull at the moment that I am treating as I feel the Anaplasma part had got away on him. He has responded well to Oxytetracycline.
Ken

 

[Lucky_P]

Principally tick-vectored strains in this part of the country - but I still see/hear veterinarians in the area telling their clients it's spread by horseflies - and while they can act as a mechanical vector, their role is pretty minimal, compared to the ticks amplifying and spreading it.
Additionally, I still hear veterinarians incriminating whitetail deer as a source, but surveys of free-ranging WTD - and infection studies in captive WTD do not bear them out as effective hosts.

No live vaccine allowed here, Ken - though I think perhaps California does allow it. We'll occasionally encounter a herd with Theileria buffeli infection - usually an incidental finding - but I've read papers where some of the Theileria species are used as a live vaccine in some parts of the world to diminish morbidity/mortality due to A.marginale infection.
Currently know of a number of folks who've had major losses to it in the past, who are now using the (inactivated A.marginale)Anaplasmosis Vaccine from University Products LLC in Baton Rouge - with good results. Doesn't prevent infection, but all but eliminates incidence of clinical disease. Vaccinates will test seropositive on cELISA test.
If it ever makes it onto my farm (knock on wood), I'll be vaccinating.
CTC-medicated minerals don't contain enough CTC to effectively control it during vector season, and I'm not going to be feeding a medicated feed daily during grazing season.

As Ron mentioned, movement of cattle from endemic to nonendemic areas has distributed it around pretty effectively. 20 years ago, there were specific 'hot spots' where I could count on cases coming from, but they now come from all over our service area.

 

[Nesikep]

We don't have too many ticks around here thankfully, or perhaps I should say my cows aren't in the bush during tick season! When I first came back to the farm one of my cows had about 7 ticks on her back in the middle of winter, I got rid of them and never saw another one since (6 years), and we have very few horseflies.. typically I see a couple a year

Thanks for the info!

 

[inyati13]

Lucky, I appreciate you saying that about Tabanids. You mention "mechanical" transmission. That is a good point because the mouthparts of the Tabinids use a thrusting, cutting and slashing action. I don't think they harbor the organism in the salivary glands or inject an anticoagulant as mosquito's do . The female is the only one who takes a bloodmeal, thus, she may not return to another cow to transmit the Rickettsia. I have forgotten some of the details of Tabanid vector properties but I do remember they are not the top of the list as vectors.

 

[cowgirl8]

We had one. I was moving cows, she didnt move with them. When i got close to her, i saw that the white in her eyes was yellow. We got her to the corral, carefully. Medicated her there and kept her penned up for a week. Put her back out. She's doing fine, but we will cull her in the fall.
When we got her up, we also got a calf up to take to the vet for a foot problem. I pulled up to the vets load out where there was a big line of trailers ahead of me. I got out to check in and walked past a long trailer with 2 saddled horses and a dead cow. The cow went into the trailer alive, and just fell over dead in the trailer(you could tell she wasnt drug into the trailer dead)...Anywho, i walked in and asked if there was a long wait and got a sarcastic smirk from the receptionist...I told her that the animals waiting have been waiting so long they are dying..lol The cow had anaplaz and should never have been loaded up. We did not haul our cow there, too risky.
We live in a big anaplaz zone. Use to feed the mineral antibiotic mix, didnt help. In fact, since we've quit feeding it we've had less problems with our cows..ie, anaplaz and foot rot. Not sure if it had anything to do with foot rot, but we've had no cases of it since we quit feeding that mix.
Unless we get more with anaplaz, i'm not going to worry about it. Its always been here and the cows who die from it are the ones where the owners dont check on them often. I saw that a neighbor had a dead cow yesterday. She was sitting under a tree by herself, the next morning buzzards were sitting on her. Could have been something else, but could have been anaplaz. Had 3 inches of rain yesterday...so, that will prolong the anaplaz...

 

[polledbull]

my neighboor lost 2 cows this month, blood test confirmed plasmosis ,

 

[talltimber]

I am currently adding Chloromax to my mineral until fall. I am continuing with Dad's protocol, as he had been down the anaplasmosis road before and that's what was recommmended as a deterrent by his vet at the time.

 

[talltimber]

I noticed some of you do not approve of the Chlorotet...(CTC?) as an addition to your mineral. Is there a reason, other than not knowing what the individuals are getting? and if that is the case, will it be harmful to the ones getting a little more than recommended?
The last batch of mineral I mixed up hasn't been used as much by the cattle. The last few days they've hit it a little harder. My vet told me what I needed to put in there would most likely make it unpalatable. He said I could get a bag mix that may be more desirable as far as taste. My Pop is tight, he wouldn't have been adding it if he didn't think it would help them. Unsure about what to do for my cattle to try and keep them healthy.
I have three cows I am concerned about, in particular. One never shed off, even after a mid summers worming. The other two have spells of audible breathing, gurgling/wheezing kind of a sound. Not every time I am around them, but often enough to get my attention, usually when its a hotter kind of a day. I was afraid it was anaplasmosis at first, but they've done it off and on most of the summer.

 

[jerry27150]

I mix it in with minerals every fall, cattle eat it faster with ctc. my son get the big bags of pellets & feeds it directly to them a couple of times,& they come running for it

 

[cowgirl8]

When we moved out where we are now, we fed the medicated mineral. Some point in time, we quit, maybe 10 years ago. Since then, we get less anaplas and for some reason we dont get foot rot anymore. Foot rot was horrible, it was constant. Not sure if it has anything to do with the medicated mineral, but you have to wonder.