Research

 

As you would guess, I had a lot of questions after we had buried Chloe and Natasha. My biggest concern was how this would affect my other goats. I had heard about this disease before, and the information everyone gave me was a bit discouraging.

 I started to go consider the following options:

 

I had a small herd, I could start over.  Or maybe give up on goats all together.

 

I could pretend this never happened, sweep it under the rug,  and just hope it wouldn’t show up again.

 

I could do my research and try to manage it.

 

 

I decided to start with some research and see if I could manage it. I started reviewing web pages and reading information on the web. I was a little overwhelmed so I decided it would best to reach out to someone. I found a number on the Johne's information center website.

 http:www.johnes.org/

 

 

I was able to get in touch with a man by the name of Michael Collins DVM, PhD, DACVM.
Mike just so happens to be an expert when it comes to this disease and was willing to talk to me! I probably grilled poor Mike with any and every  possible question a concerned, panicked, owner could possibly grill him with. He sent me a very helpful booklet that could probably sum up my initial conversation. 

http://www.johnesdisease.org/Educational%20Material/Educational%20Materials/Goat%20Q&A.html 

 

PLEASE NOTE: Anyone who owns goats should take a peek at this information- it's a quick read and its full of valuable information!

Here is a link for Mike:
http://www.paratuberculosis.org/members/collins.htm

 

So What Is Johne’s  Disease?

 

Johne’s disease is a contagious disease that affects the gastrointestinal track of ruminant animals. ( cows, sheep, deer, goats..).  It’s caused by a bacterium  known as paratuberculosis (MAP). It’s been found in many animals and is relatively common in dairy cows.  In goats it can cause chronic diarrhea and gradual wasting of the animal that is infected.  I think it can be tricky with goats because there are so many other things that can cause the same symptoms.

 

How is Johne’s disease spread?

The most common time an animal becomes infected with Johne’s disease is when it’s a young. An infected dam can spread the disease to her kids via milk, ingestion of infected feces, or in  utero.  An infected animal can also spread the disease by shedding the bacteria via fecal matter. Kids that were not infected by their dam can also become infected by being housed with an infected animal. The degree at which an animal spreads the bacterium depends on how far the disease has progressed in the host animal.

 

How do you test for Johne’s disease?

Testing for Johne’s disease can be tricky.  The three common methods for testing are from blood, fecal tests, and necropsy. It’s best to consult a veterinarian on what type of testing would be the most beneficial for your herd.  Each test has its pros and cons and developing a strategy or action plan for your herd is the best way to detect the disease early and control it.

 

As for a quick briefing on testing, this is the graph I made from the information on the site.

It's my attempt to bring everything in perspective..

 

 

	What The Test Measures	What is tested?	Test Pros	Test Cons
Culture	Tests for the organism. The sample is used to grow a colony of the organism.	The animal’s environment; soil, pasture, water, and manure can be sampled	Can be used to detect presence of organism in large herds vs testing each animal individually.	The test results can take several weeks.
Direct PCR	Tests for the presence of the organisms genetic material	Manure	Can detect infection earlier than a blood test Results with in a week   Manure may be easier for an individual to collect vs. blood	The test is more costly than the blood tests
ELISA	Targets Anti-MAP antibody which is then compared to positive and negative control values	Blood   Milk	Less expensive Results with in a few days Gives numeric value which can be helpful for the owner to determine if animal is shedding	May not detect the infection as early as PCR test
AGID	Targets antibody	Blood	Useful to diagnose animals that are ill	Either Positive or Negative results, does not assign numeric value.