Prevalência e aspectos clínicos da linfadenite caseosa em um rebanho de caprinos e ovinos no município de Cruz das Almas-Ba

Abstract

Lymphadenitis Caseosa (LC) is a chronic, debilitating and difficult-to-control infectious contagious disease that affects mainly small ruminants and can affect other animals, including humans. It is caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, characterized by the formation of abscesses in superficial and deep lymph nodes. With the objective of evaluating clinical aspects and determining the prevalence of caseous lymphadenitis, 23 sheep and 55 goats from the city of Cruz das Almas-BA were studied. Of the 23 sheep evaluated in three evaluations by the ELISA-indirect test, 43.5% were considered as positive and 55% of the 55 goats were positive. The lymph nodes most affected in the sheep were parotids 37.5%, pre-scapular 25%, and in the goats pre-scapular 37.4%, parotid 21.9% and pre-femoral 21.9%. Of the evaluated sheep 4 were positive with lesions in lymph nodes and 12 were positive without injury, whereas in goats 9 were positive with lesion and 22 without lesion. The observation of seropositive animals that do not present visible clinical alteration points to the need of the governmental sanitary defense, to re-evaluate the screening methods used for exposure and commercialization of goats and sheep, since these are based exclusively on the clinical evaluation of lesions in superficial lymph nodes.