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Early weight development of goats experimentally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

Early weight development of goats experimentally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

Authors :
Malone AN
Fletcher DM
Vogt MB
Meyer SK
Hess AM
Eckstein TM
Source :
PloS one [PLoS One] 2013 Dec 11; Vol. 8 (12), pp. e84049. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Dec 11 (Print Publication: 2013).
Publication Year :
2013

Abstract

Johne's disease is an infectious chronic inflammatory bowel disease in ruminants. The key factor for the management of this disease is an early positive diagnosis. Unfortunately, most diagnostics detect animals with Johne's disease in the clinical stage with positive serology and/or positive fecal cultures. However, for effective management of the disease within herds, it is important to detect infected animals as early as possible. This might only be possible with the help of parameters not specific for Johne's disease but that give an early indication for chronic infections such as weight development. Here we report our findings on the development of total body weight and weight gain during the first six months of goats experimentally infected to induce Johne's disease. Twenty dairy goat kids age 2 to 5 days were included in this study. Goats were divided into two groups: a negative control group and a positive infected group. The weight was obtained weekly throughout the study. Goats of the positive group were infected at the age of seven weeks. We detected significant changes in weight gain and total body weight as early as one week after infection. Differences are significant throughout the six month time period. Weight as a non-specific parameter should be used to monitor infection especially in studies on Johne's disease using the goat model. Our study suggests that goats with Johne's disease have a reduced weight gain and reduced weight when compared with healthy goats of the same age.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1932-6203
Volume :
8
Issue :
12
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
PloS one
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
24349564
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084049