Sheep vaccines against 17 serious sheep diseases
Using sheep vaccines to protect the sheep flocks from many common diseases is the ideal key to get all sheep expected economic benefits including, meat, wool, and milk production.
Let's know more about common sheep diseases and their vaccines.
What vaccines are recommended for sheep?
Sheep vaccines are usually used to protect sheep against specific diseases, including:
Sheep vaccine against scabby mouth disease
Scabby mouth disease is a viral disease that is very contagious among sheep.
It causes a reduction of the bodyweight of lambs and mastitis in ewes.
The vaccine against scabby mouth disease is known as scabigard.
It's a live vaccine that generates an immunity of sheep against scabby mouth disease by its exposure to a mild form of the disease.
One vaccination will give protection against the disease for life.
It must be only considered where the disease is an issue to avoid spreading the virus and unnecessary costs of vaccination programs for future stock.
Principles should be considered with sheep vaccine against scabby mouth disease
Some principles must be considered to obtain perfect protection including:
All sheep and lambs must be vaccinated to avoid spreading from vaccinated to unvaccinated sheep.
Avoid vaccination of pregnant ewes within 6 weeks of lambing.
Lambs should be vaccinated at lamb marking time.
Ensure sterilization of scabigard applicator.
This vaccine is scratched on the bare skin side of the brisket or inside the foreleg.
The scratch must be at a 45-degree angle to the skin.
The length of the scratch must be 4-5 cm in length causing ample skin damage without blood release.
The blue dye of the vaccine helps the vet to see the distribution of the vaccine along with the skin scratch.
The successful vaccine is ensured by a line of pustules along the line of scratch for one week after vaccination.
The immunity from the vaccine develops within 2 weeks.
The live vaccine of scabby mouth is transmissible to humans so the vet must take care to avoid scratching himself with the vaccine.
Foot and mouth disease vaccine (FMD)
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of sheep that circulates in 77% of the livestock population, in The Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America.
1 - 2 doses of vaccine annually in adult sheep are good for systematic vaccination courses.
In a high-risk situation,
2 doses of oil vaccine with 10 - 30 day interval
in adult sheep, is
recommended to
Induce flock protection.
• Young lambs should be vaccinated with high levels of
MDA to enhance a perfect immune response.
Maximum protection is obtained after 4 days.
Vaccination against OJD (ovine John's disease OJD)
Ovine John's disease is a chronic sheep disease that causes a reduction of food absorption in sheep and so the animal wastes away and eventually dies.
The vaccine used against OJD is Gudair.
This vaccine is given Subcutaneously high on the neck. as a single dose that provides the sheep life-long protection.
lambs are administered at 4-16 weeks of age.
Sheep Vaccines Against erysipelas arthritis
Erysipelas arthritis is a bacterial disease that is more common in newborn lambs.
Infection of erysipelas arthritis occurs when the causative bacteria invade the body through skin wounds such as shearing cuts or via the umbilicus in newborn lambs.
These bacteria will settle in the joints causing inflammation.
The best prevention of erysipelas arthritis in sheep is obtained by eryvac in addition to animal husbandry practices.
There are some principles considered in the erysipelas arthritis vaccine, including:
It must be given subcutaneously as a course of 2 doses.
Unvaccinated ewes must be given the first dose at joining time and the second dose 4 weeks before lambing.
Previously vaccinated ewes must be given an annual booster 4 weeks before lambing to ensure providing immunity to the newborn lambs via colostrum for 8 weeks.
Vaccine against campylobacter abortion
Campylobacter is a common causative agent of late-term abortion in ewes.
Prevention and vaccination against campylobacter abortion are very necessary by using campyvac.
The optimum dose of this vaccine is 1mL by subcutaneous injection into the anterior half of the sheep neck as a first dose.
The second dose, 4 – 8 weeks apart, is required in the first year.
an annual booster every 12 months.
Sheep Vaccines against Rabies
Rabies is a worldwide, untreatable viral disease with a high mortality rate.
So, vaccination of the sheep against it is an important step.
The Rabies vaccine is a killed vaccine prepared from cell-culture-grown, chemically inactivated rabies virus which originated from Louis Pasteur's original isolate in 1882.
Dose of Rabies vaccine
2ml intramuscularly at 12 weeks of age or older.
A repeat dose should be given after 1 year.
An annual booster is recommended.
Vaccine against bluetongue disease (BT)
Bluetongue disease is an insect-transmitted, non-contagious viral disease-causing hemorrhagic fever of susceptible ruminants.
The live attenuated MLVs (modified live virus) protects sheep against BTV serotypes 10, 11, 17.
Further research is developed to provide a more effective vaccine for the optimal prevention of Bluetongue disease.
Sheep Vaccines against bacterial pneumonia
This vaccine protects sheep from Pasteurellosis pneumonia which is the main cause of sheep mortality.
Vaccine against Q fever
Q fever disease is a zoonotic, widespread disease caused by the bacteria Coxiella burnetii and it causes abortions in sheep.
Vaccination against it is necessary as it can infect humans.
There's a study of the effect of the Q fever vaccine on pregnant ewes.
This study targeted adult ewes (17 months of age) who were vaccinated against Coxiella burnetii, using a formalin-inactivated whole-cell (WC) phase I Heinzerling strain vaccine or a chloroform-methanol residue (CMR) vaccine.
19 pregnant ewes were placed in 3 categories [(i) unvaccinated.
(ii) WC vaccine.
(iii) CMR vaccine.
The 3 categories were exposed at approximately the 100th day of gestation with 210,000 plaque-forming units of C burnetii inoculated subcutaneously.
By inoculating ewes' placental tissues, amniotic fluid, and colostrum, the Shedding of rickettsiae was reduced but was not prevented in vaccinated groups.
The rickettsiae were shed in the placenta, amniotic fluid, or colostrum in 6 unvaccinated ewes.
In comparison, rickettsiae were detected in placental inoculations from 2 of 6 ewes in the WC vaccine group and 1 of 6 in the CMR group.
The study assured that placentitis, high concentrations of rickettsiae in microscopic preparations, and weak lambs were typical for the unvaccinated ewes.
Sheep pox vaccine
Sheep pox is a highly contagious viral disease in sheep that spreads by inhalation or direct contact with infected animals.
The sheep pox vaccine containing the attenuated virus in freeze-dried form provides solid protection against pox disease in sheep.
All sheep and lambs above 2 months of age should be vaccinated once a year.
Lambs vaccinated at age less than 6 months should be revaccinated at 6 months of age to boost immunity.
Sheep Vaccines against Footrot
Footrot is a painful and debilitating infection of the interdigital skin causing lameness in sheep.
Footrot is caused by a mixture of anaerobic gram-negative bacterium, Dichelobacter nodosus, which is preceded and accompanied by maceration and colonization of Fusobacterium necrophorum in the interdigital skin.
Vaccination for footrot must be started before winter by 4 months with a booster every 3 - 6 months, as it's a seasonal disease related to wetness.
Sheep Vaccines against Brucellosis
Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease, caused by Brucella melitensis.
It causes abortions in sheep, so vaccination is a key measure to protect both human and animal health.
However, the available live-attenuated vaccine retains virulence and can cause disease in animals and humans, so a new brucellosis vaccine with high safety is needed.
Sheep Vaccines against clostridial diseases
They are the vaccines used to prevent the 5 types of sheep clostridial diseases.
What're the general principles for the administration of sheep vaccines?
Some principles must be considered before introducing the sheep vaccines, including:
Administration of the sheep vaccines should be subcutaneously in the caudolateral neck region.
Avoid administration over where the valuable meat cuts are located (loin and hindquarter).
The history of the flock's health and the frequency of specific diseases in the flock must be well-known.
The occurrence of a specific disease in the area must be well-studied.
The vet must have a high personal capacity to administer the sheep vaccines.
Checking the expiry date of the sheep vaccine is necessary.
.
All handling and storage instructions directed on vaccine labels must be accurately followed.
- the correct dosage according to label specifications must be followed.
Discarding any blunt needle during the vaccination session must be done with caution.
Making sure the sheep vaccine is kept cool during long sessions of vaccinations.
Adequate restraining of sheep to avoid sudden movement.