Johne’s Disease: na emerging disease in Brazilian dairy herds

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Luis Femando Laranja-da-Fonseca
Alexandre Azevedo Oliva
Christian Campos Pereira
Marcos Veiga dos Santos

Abstract

Paratuberculosis or Johne's disease is an infectious disease characterized by an inflammatory granulomatous process in the intestinal wall of domestic and wild ruminants, reducing the feed digestibility and leading to a decrease in rnilk yield. In general, infected animals show persistent diarrhea and progressive weight loss. Even though there are some early reports on individual cases of paratuberculosis in Brazil, there are no data on the occurrence of this disease in herds. In a recent survey on the presence of antibodies against Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in dairy herds of the state of São Paulo, Laranja-da-Fonseca et al. (1999) reported that 153 (37.9%) of the 403 samples had antibodies against Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and 19 (95%) of the 20 farms surveyed had at least one positive animal. Results of this study show that diary cows from several areas in the state of São Paulo had had antibodies against Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, suggesting a need for a broad study on the prevalence of the disease in Brazil.

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How to Cite
LARANJA-DA-FONSECA, L. F.; OLIVA, A. A.; PEREIRA, C. C.; SANTOS, M. V. DOS. Johne’s Disease: na emerging disease in Brazilian dairy herds. Revista de Educação Continuada em Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, v. 3, n. 2, p. 30-39, 1 Jul. 2000.
Section
LARGE AND MEDIUM ANIMALS