A.K Balhara and Sunesh

Pathogen is a microbe capable of causing illness. The most common pathogens are bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses.

The process through which a pathogen, also called an infectious agent, causes illness is pathogenesis.

Diseases can be classified in three ways:

1. contagious – can spread from one animal to another
2. infectious – can infect a living organism
3. non-infectious – are those diseases that are not caused by a pathogen but they may be caused by either the environment, nutritional deficiencies or genetic inheritances.

The body has several lines of defense against disease.

Some body defense mechanisms are :

Immune System – The immune system is the body’s defense against infectious organisms and other invaders. Through a series of steps called the immune response, the immune system attacks pathogens that invade body systems and cause disease.

Immunity is the ability of the body to prevent an organism from causing disease.

There are two types of immunity:

1. Natural immunity – Immunity that is naturally existing in an organism, Natural immunity does not require prior sensitization to an antigen.
2. Acquired immunity – Immunity acquired by infection or vaccination or by the transfer of antibody or lymphocytes from an immune donor. Acquired immunity is in contrast to natural immunity.

antibodies – produced by the white blood cells in response to a foreign protein, or antigen

A.K Balhara and Sunesh

1. Balanced  Nutrittion :
2. Managing Heat Stress :
   1. Ensure plentiful supply of cool, clean drinking water.
   2. Washing/Wallowing/Sprinkling/Splashing or showering of water is done to lower temperature and cool buffalo during times of stress. Sprinklers increase evaporative cooling and can reduce ground temperature.
   3. Good ventilation system may help animal to cope with extreme heat events.
   4. Feeding green fodder/silage/hay/is generally helpful and should be done at relatively cooler times e.g. morning or late evenings.
3. Sanitation : Cleaning and disinfecting is essential to control the accumulation and spread of disease-causing microorganisms. Sometimes it provides the only successful solution for controlling infectious diseases. Thorough cleaning and proper choice and use of a disinfectant are very important.
4. Isolation : Isolating and treating sick animals; dispose of dead animals properly.
5. Management Practices
   1. Regular deworming of the buffalo  herd.
   2. Observing animals frequently for signs of disease.
   3. Keeping animals comfortable.
   4. Vaccinating for diseases that are a threat to the herd. Needles should be sterilized after each use to prevent spread of disease
   5. Medicating feed or water, as necessary, to control specific disease problems.
   6. Utilizing diagnostic services and regular supervision of herd health by a veterinarian. .
   7. Protecting feed and water from contamination with manure and urine from animal and from droppings of birds and rodents.
   8. New animals added to the herd are a potential source of new diseases so always buy healthy animals. Test breeding bull for brucellosis and for other diseases before purchase .

Disease is not always caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites. Disease can also result from nutritional deficiency. A lack of the necessary minerals, vitamins and other nutrients may also inhibit the body’s immune response – increasing chances of infection and decreasing the body’s ability to combat infection. The high yielding animals need special care in feeding and management. Certain diseases occur due to faulty feeding management practices. Sudden portioning of nutrients in excess than supply also causes certain metabolic disorders. The direct effects of animal diseases on livestock productivity are significant and include reduced feed intake, changes in digestion and metabolism, increased morbidity and mortality and decreased rates of reproduction, weight gain and milk production.

The metabolic disorders often encountered are related to production especially in high yielding animals and thus are also called production diseases. The nutritional and metabolic disorders in cattle and buffaloes include

• Indigestion
• Acidosis
• Tympany
• Milk fever
• Ketosis
• Hypomagnesaemic tetany
• Pica
• Haemoglobinurea
• Rheumati  sundrome
• Selenium toxicity
• Vit A deficiency syndrome
• Plant poisoning etc.

The interactions between disease, nutrition and genetic selection emphasize the need to control the effects of both epidemic and endemic diseases before programs introducing enhanced livestock nutrition and improved breeds can make an impact. However, productivity and economic gains will not necessarily be achieved by disease control alone and an integrated approach is required.

On the other hand it is now widely understood that improved feeding and nutrition with careful attention to the animals’ seasonal requirements – has an important role to play in the control of diseases. Simply put, an animal with an adequate diet is more likely to be healthy than one with a poor diet.

It is important to recognize that better feeding of livestock covers:

• the quality or types of foods supplied, or given access to,
• the quantity of food,
• as well as adjusting for seasonal requirements

Some diseases that an animal can develop are entirely due to poor diet (rather than infection by bacteria or viruses). This may be because the feed contains a toxin that harms the animal directly, or it may be because the diet is deficient in a particular nutrient (energy, vitamin or mineral) and the animal then develops a “deficiency disease”.

The development of infectious diseases can also be affected by the animal’s diet, as the proper functioning of the animal’s immune system (the system that fights off infectious disease) needs an adequate supply of protein, vitamins and minerals. Nutrition therefore also plays a key role in the balance of health and disease, which will decide whether an animal (when exposed to a disease-causing bacterium or virus) stays healthy or succumbs to disease.

When an animal is exposed to a bacterium, virus or other infectious agent, the animal’s immune system mounts a response to fight off that infection. This includes raising antibodies to fight the infection, as well as using white blood cells and other “killer” cells to attack anything (such as a virus) that it recognizes as “foreign”. To mount this kind of response clearly needs energy, materials for manufacturing the antibodies and cells, and other factors involved in communicating messages in the parts of the animal’s body involved with fighting infections.

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Mandal, A.B., Paul, S.S. and N.N.Pathak. 2003. Nutrient Requirements and Feeding of buffaloes and cattle. International Book Distributing Co., Lucknow.