Indian Journal of Small Ruminants (The)

Astudy was undertaken to find out the concurrent mixed bluetongue and theileriosis in Pattanam sheep in the Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu. During September to October 2018, a total of 42 sheep (aged 3 months to 5 yrs.) from five flocks exhibiting symptoms of anorexia, oral lesions, lameness and lymph node enlargement was studied. On reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the presence of bluetongue virus was confirmed in 2 (4.76%) sheep. Giemsa stained peripheral blood smears showed the presence of Theileria spp. in 8 (19.05%) animals. Besides these, 15 (35.71%) sheep had the concurrent infections of both bluetongue and theileria. Blue tongue virus antibodies could not be detected in all the serum samples by ELISA. The morbidity and mortality rates in flocks ranged from 10.0 to 85.7% and 3.1 to 16.0%, respectively. The mixed infections were predominantly seen in males aged between 7 months to 2 yrs. The positive animals were treated with oxytetracycline (10 mg/kg IV), buparvaquone (2.5 mg/kg IM) and meloxicam (0.5 mg/kg IM) along with supportive treatment. After treatment, 95% of animals recovered while 5% succumbed due to advanced stage of disease. Early diagnosis and screening of animals for concurrent/multiple pathogens and implementation of vector control measures are needed to reduce the losses associatedwith these diseases.