Animal Health

1. Terminology
1. Disease- disorder of structure or function that produces specific signs/symptoms; changes normal function
2. Etiology- cause of disease
3. Symptom- Observable difference from normal caused by disease
4. Lesion- Change in a body organ (disease or injury cause)
5. Vector- Organism that transmits a disease (ex: mosquito)
6. Reservoir- Place where disease agent can retreat and live comfortably; slowly infects the host while spreading the disease
7. Zooinosis- disease that humans and animals share
2. Causes of disease
1. Predisposing causes
1. Ex: stress
2. Direct causes
1. Infectious- caused by living agents (viruses/bacteria)
1. Pathogens (bacteria, viruses, protozoa)- living organism that causes disease in another organism
2. Pathogenicity- Measure of an organism's ability to cause disease
3. Virulence- How bad the disease gets, degree of pathogenicity
4. Contagious
2. Non-infectious
1. Genetic
2. Nutrition- ex: anemia, toxicities
3. Metabolic- animals fail to metabolize correctly
4. Trauma/injury
5. Chemicals/toxins- ex: consumption of fertilizer
6. Physical- exposure to radiation
3. Describing Disease
1. Clinical- observable symptoms
2. Sub-clinical- few to no observable symptoms, but infectious agent is present and being spread from the animal
3. Acute- VERY noticeable symptoms, either death or recovery
4. Chronic- disease develops slowly, hangs around, non-specific symptoms
4. Diagnosing Disease
1. Detection and ID
2. History
3. Observation
4. Physical exam
5. Collection tissues/fluids
5. Defense Against Disease Terminology
1. Antigen- a toxin or foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body
2. Non-specific/innate immunity
1. Protects against whole classes of disease organisms
2. Barriers- ex: skin, hair, etc.
1. Normal gut flora- microorganisms in gut which protect us
2. Mucociliary escalator- respiratory tract in the nose which keeps out bad stuff; cilia
3. Specific Immunity (acquired)
1. Pathogen specific (response to specific virus, bacteria, etc.)
2. Memory cells/ ANTIBODIES- when infected w/ virus, body creates these cells, remember the bad agent
3. Recognition of foreign antigen and destroy them
4. Immunization
5. Antibodies- cells that recognize infectious agents
1. Acquired passively from mother to offspring (short lasting)
2. Acquired actively, after exposure to infectious agent- immunization or after animal has the disease (long lasting)
6. Active Immunity
1. Host actively participates
2. Primary immune response- first exposure to an antigen
3. Secondary immune response- next exposure to infection; more vigorous/rapid response to antigen; basis of vaccine; due to memory cells
6. Herd Health
1. Management- make separate parts of herd health program work
2. Nutrition- correctly balance rations; keep animals from being over or underfed; prevent nutrition/metabolic disease
3. Genetics- eliminate genetic disease
7. Prevention
1. Consult veterinarian
2. Have procedures
3. Identify animals w/ disease
4. Add healthy animals
5. Maintain animal groups
6. All-in, all-out
1. All in/ all out- all animals born together, grow up together, etc.
1. Keep ecosystem of diseases within the group
2. Minimize transmission of diseases
7. Good nutrition
8. Clean water
9. Vaccination
10. Good observation
11. Discover causes of disease
8. Biosecurity
1. Only farm personnel
2. Procedures
9. Animal Disease and Human Well-Being
1. Emotional Loss after loss of animal
2. Zoonotic diseases