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The much-awaited vaccine for the foot rot disease found in goats pan-India may become a reality by the monsoon of 2022.
About Foot Rot Disease
- A contagious disease in goats and sheep, characterised by exudative inflammation followed by necrosis of the epidermal tissues, causing separation of the hoof from the underlying soft tissue.
- The affected animals exhibit lameness, loss of body condition due to a fall in diet, causing reduced wool and meat production, apart from decreased fertility.
- The disease is not just painful for the animals but also a nightmare for the cattle rearers, as it results in huge fall in returns on their investment.
- The disease caused by ‘ Dichelobacter nodosus ’ bacteria. The bacteria generally infests in muddy soil and spreads to the flock during the rainy season
- In India, the disease is predominantly reported from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, though its first confirmed outbreak was found in the Jammu & Kashmir.
- The disease affects up to 2% of the sheep population during the monsoon season, but the morbidity in the affected flock ranges between 10 and 20% due to severe lesions.
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