A Victorian veterinarian is frustrated by suggestions a cattle disease that spread to South Australia is “benign” and “insignificant” and warns producers there will be many more outbreaks when conditions allow.
Theileria first made its mark in SA in October 2014, killing cattle at a property near Millicent in the state’s south east.
But Victorian vets have been dealing with the disease since 2007. Gippsland’s Dr Jade Hammer said it had caused more than 250 cattle deaths in his service area alone.
Theileria, which is transmitted by ticks, kills red blood cells and causes an animal to lag behind the herd because of the lack of oxygen. Dairy farmers notice a sudden drop in milk production and all cattle will present with a pale vulva.
There are treatments available overseas and New Zealand authorities are looking to introduce tick prevention products, but Dr Hammer has been frustrated by how little he can offer clients in Australia.
He has undertaken a Masters Degree to try and unravel some of the mysteries around Theileria and equip farmers that are yet to face the disease with as much knowledge as he can.
Dr Hammer rejected suggestions the threat was weaker in SA because farmers reported that ticks were uncommon.
He said there were records of tick populations, especially in the south east, and that numbers would increase in certain conditions.
“Here in Gippsland a lot of farmers say ‘there’s definitely no ticks’, but when we go and investigate we usually do find them,” he said.
“They usually are on the cattle for brief periods at night and therefore they’re very rarely seen on the cattle.
“Unfortunately one of the things we’re finding, through my research, is that the ticks have a massive distribution and those distributions increase with rainfall. With that increase in distribution the disease will spread over larger areas.”
Dr Hammer said he was diagnosing animals on the same properties year after year in Gippsland, because the ticks remained on the property and infected new animals each season.
He agreed it was almost impossible to stem the spread across SA.
Dr Hammer was frustrated by what he called the “watered down” message being delivered to SA producers, which he said very closely mirrored the message given in Victoria back in 2007.
SA chief veterinary officer Dr Roger Paskin said Theileria was a benign “disease” that was “insignificant” compared to other cattle diseases and it could not be controlled or treated.
“It’s definitely a disease of global significance and it’s costing a lot of farms a lot of money,” Dr Hammer said in response.
“We’ve had a large number of outbreaks, over 250 deaths in my practice area alone and over 300 outbreak herds. We now see this as a big issue in our region and one that warrants investigation.
“It’s up there with milk fever or ketosis [in dairy farming. In terms of beef cattle, Theileria is one of the most common reasons that we’d be called out to a beef cow.”
Dr Hammer said there needed to be a global focus on developing an effective vaccination program.
“[A different strain of] this disease has been detected in Africa since 1901, where it currently kills a million cows a year,” he said.
“In Africa, they’ve been trying to develop a vaccine for that period of time and have been unsuccessful.
“Compared to the African strain, our strains are benign, but they’re certainly not as benign as what we had in Australia prior to 2006.”
Source: Rural