Progressive Research 8 (1) : 127-129 (2013)

Society for Sci. Dev. in Agric. and Tech.

COMPLICATIONS OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE IN CATTLE AND THEIR

CLINICAL MANAGEMENT
N.A. Tufani
Teaching Veterinary Clinical Service Complex, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (SKUAST-K),
Shuhama, Alusteng, Srinagar-190006 (J&K)

ABSTRACT
An outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) during May-August 2008 was studied. A total number
of 59 crossbred as well as nondescript local breed of cattle were affected with FMD. Highest
incidence occurred in July (62.71%) followed by May (22.03%) and last at the early August (6.78%).
Crossbred animals were more affected (81.36 %) in comparison to local hill cattle (18.64%,
11animals). Older animals (above 2 years) were more (64.41%) affected with this disease followed by
younger (1-2 years) (32.20%) and only a few calves (3.39%) below 1 year of age. Females (89.83%)
were more affected than males (10.17%). The mean body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate
were found 103.631 0.189, 78.034 1.757 and 35.983 1.524, respectively. Mastitis was found in
5.08% animals and sloughing of tongues (6.78%), teats (5.08%) and hooves (1.69%) was also
observed. 16.95% animals showed panting for a long time and 3.39% animals showed cessation of
milk. The severity of the clinical signs appears to be more in crossbred than local hill cattle. After
therapeutic measures, it can be concluded that animals treated with Gentamicin along with 5%
Povidon iodine (100%) is highly effective followed by Enrofloxacin along with 2% NaHCO3 (91.30%).
Key Words :

Cattle, foot and mouth disease, outbreak, clinical management.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly

communicable viral infection affecting cloven-hoofed
domestic and wild animals and is characterized by
fever (104 to 105F), formation of vesicles and blisters
in the mouth, udder, and teats and on the skin between
the toes and above the hooves. In India, the disease is
not serious for livestock and seldom progresses to a
fatal issue, but occurs round the year and being
widespread in nature with the potential of causing
severe economic losses and trade disruptions in
animals and animal products. The disease affects all
breeds and ages of cattle. Exotic and cross-bred cattle
suffer more severely, with a mortality rate of 10 to 20%,
against only 2 to 3 per cent in the local breeds.
Occurrence of mastitis is one of the most economic
concerns after effect of FMD in dairy cattle. The present
study is focused about complications of FMD with
special reference to mastitis in milch animals.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted at Teaching Veterinary
Clinical Service Complex, Faculty of Veterinary
Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Srinagar on an
outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in between
May-August 2008. During this period a total number of

59 (6 males and 53 females) crossbred as well as

nondescript local breed of cattle were affected with
FMD presented for treatment were included in this
study.
The animals were randomly divided into 5 groups
irrespective of their breed, sex and age. Group-I
consisting of 24 animals were treated with Ampicillin
and Cloxacillin combination @ 10 mg/kg body weight
bid intramuscularly for 3 days, group-II comprising of
23 animals were treated with Enrofloxacin @ 5 mg/kg
sid intramuscularly for 3 days, group-III having 6
animals were treated with Oxytetracycline @ 10 mg/kg
sid intramuscularly for 3 days, group-IV containing 3
animals were treated with Gentamicin @ 2.5 mg/kg bid
intramuscularly for 3 days and group-V having 3
animals with mild oral and foot lesions were treated
only with local application of Potassium permanganate
(1ppm) on the lesions. Besides, animals of group-I, II,
III and IV were also treated with local application of
antiseptic solutions viz., 2% NaOH, 2% NaHCO3, 4%
Na2CO3 and 5% Povidon iodine respectively.
Meloxicam and paracetamol combination (Melonex
plus, Intas) @ 1ml/25 kg body weight were also given
only to pyretic animals for 2-3 days. The physiological
parameters recorded during this study are depicted in

128

Complications of foot and mouth disease in cattle and their clinical management

table-1 and the data obtained were analyzed (t-test) as

per (1).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The disease was diagnosed on the basis of
presumptive history, characteristic clinical findings,
lesions and sudden onset and spread within a short
period of time. Initially, the affected animals exhibited
high fever (104-106F), anorexia, marked depression
and sharp drop in milk production (up to 70%) followed
by acute painful stomatitis, profuse salivation (hang in
long and ropy strings), a characteristic smacking of the
lips. Vesicles/blisters appear on the mouth (buccal
mucosa, tongue, dental pad, gums and soft palate), feet
(inter-digital space, coronary band) and teat, which
were generally ruptured within 24 hours due to
movement of jaw, feet and during milking respectively,
leaving a raw painful surface. In some animals fresh
vesicles were also observed with characteristic thin
walled, approximately 4-6 cm in diameter and ruptured

easily containing a thin, straw-coloured fluid. Rupture

of vesicles causes acute discomfort; and the animal
became grossly lame when lesions present in foot
region, with a marked painful swelling of the coronet
and animals regularly stamping their feet. Most of the
animals presented to the clinic were found without
vesicular lesions due to early rupture. But, erosive
lesions due to ruptured vesicles were found in mouth,
feet in most of the cases and teat of some animals.
When lesions are found in the teat orifices of lactating
animal mastitis is the obvious clinical complication.
Here, mastitis was found in 3 crossbred animals due to
secondary bacterial invasion. If treatment was not
started on proper time or the disease was so
severe and even after treatment sloughing of tongues
(4 animals, 6.78%), teats (3 animals, 5.08%) and
hooves (1 animal, 1.69%) may occurs. However, no
deaths were recorded in any breed, sex and age of
animals during this study. Moreover, 16.95% (10/59)
animals were showing clinical signs of panting for a

Table-1: Incidence of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and its complication affecting different physiological parameters in
crossbred cattle.
Parameters
No. of animals (N)
Breed

24
Crossbred

Group-I

Group-II

Group-III

Group-IV

Group-V

24

23

Overall

20 (83.33%)

17 (73.91%)

5 (83.33%)

3 (100%)

3 (100%)

48 (81.36%)

4 (16.67%)
2 (8.33%)

6 (26.09%)
3 (13.04%)

1 (16.67%)
0 (0%)

0 (0%)
1 (33.33%)

0 (0%)
0 (0%)

11 (18.64%)

6 (100%)
0 (0%)

2 (66.67%)
0 (0%)

3 (100%)
0 (0%)

53 (89.83%)
1 (1.69%)

59

Sex

Local hill cattle

Male (?)

Age

Female (?)
<6 months

22 (91.67%)
0 (0%)

20 (86.96%)
1 (4.35%)

6-<12 months
1-2 years
> 2 years
May

0 (0%)
5 (20.83%)
19 (79.17%)
6 (25%)

1 (4.35%)
9 (39.13%)
12 (53.17%)
2 (8.69%)

0 (0%)
3 (50%)
3 (50%)
2 (33.33%)

0 (0%)
1 (33.33%)
2 (66.67%)
1 (33.33%)

0 (0%)
1 (33.33%)
2 (66.67%)
2 (66.67%)

1
19
38
13

June
July
August

3 (12.5%)
15 (62.5%)
0 (0%)
103.441
0.338

0 (0%)
19 (82.61%)
2 (8.69%)
103.809
0.277

1 (16.67%)
1 (16.67%)
2 (33.33%)
103.967
0.430

1 (33.33%)
1 (33.33%)
0 (0%)
103.267
0.353

0 (0%)
1 (33.33%)
0 (0%)
103.467
1.392

5 (8.47%)
37 (62.71%)
4 (6.78%)
103.631
0.189

Heart rate/min
(Mean SE)

78.875
3.342

75.348
2.344

78.000
3.795

78.667
4.372

91.333
7.688

78.034
1.757

Respiratory/min
(Mean SE)

34.042
2.735

36.174
2.0877

39.667
3.981

43.000
9.539

35.667
6.741

35.983
1.524

Rumen motility/min
(Mean SE)

2.292
0.204

2.304
0.193

2.000
0.365

1.667
0.333

1.667
0.667

2.203
0.123

1 (4.76%)
-

1 (4.35%)

1 (16.67%)

3 (5.08%)

1 (16.67%)

1 (33.33%)

2 (3.40%)

87.50%

91.30%

83.33%

100%

66.67%

88.14%

Months

Temperature(F)
(Mean SE)

Complicated with mastitis

Complicated with maggot wound
Recovery rate

6 (10.17%)

(1.69%)
(32.20%)
(64.41%)
(22.03%)

N.A. Tufani

long period of time and 2 (3.39%) animals showed

complete cessation of milk production even after
complete clinical recovery. The severity of the clinical
signs appears more in crossbred than local hill cattle
due to less resistance against the disease.
Outbreak of the disease was started in the month
of May (22.03%, 13 animals) and pickup the highest
incidence in the month of July (62.71%, 37 animals)
and end at early August (6.78%, 4 animals). A similar
outbreak with O strain of FMD was also reported by
(2) in this locality but, the highest incidence was
observed during late spring (April) followed by early
spring (March). Here, the climatic condition during
these months particularly July is more hot and humid
in comparison to the other months of the year could be
the possible cause of outbreak. Crossbred animals
were more affected (81.36%, 48 animals) in
comparison to local hill cattle (18.64%, 11animals)
possibly of low resistance against the diseases. It was
also observed that animals of older ages (above 2
years) were more (64.41%, 38 animals) affected with
this disease followed by younger (1-2 years) animals
(32.20%, 19 animals) and only a few calves (3.39%, 2
animals) below 1 year of age were found affected with
this disease. The disease was least prevalent in
calves below 1 year of age could be due to maternal
immunity and higher in adult animals might be due to
stress of pregnancy and/or lactation in female and
physical in draft males. Females (89.83%, 53 animas)
were found to highly affected this with this disease
than males (10.17%, 6 animals) due to lactation or
pregnancy stress or both.
The physiological parameters recorded during
this study vary with the individual animals and the
statistical data obtained were depicted in Table-1. The
mean body temperature, heart rate and respiratory
rate were found to be 103.631 0.189, 78.034
1.757 and 35.983 1.524, respectively which were
higher than normal values, whereas rumen motility
per 2 min (2.203 0.123) was found below the normal
(3) and varies none-significantly among the groups.
Therapeutic efficacies of different drugs given for
3 days are discussed here. Out of 24 affected animals
of group-I, 21 (87.50%) animals recovered completely
after giving treatment while rest 3 (12.50%) animals

129

required more 3 days treatment for complete recovery.

Moreover, mastitis and sloughing of teats occurred in 1
(4.76%) animal even after treatment in this group.
Among 23 animals of group-II, 21 (91.30%) animals
recovered completely after 3 days treatment while 1
(4.35%) animal that were complicated with mastitis and
another 1 (4.35%) animal showed maggot wound in its
feet. Following mastitis the animal was treated
successfully by intramuscular injection of Gentamicin @
2.5 mg/kg bid for 3 days and the animal affected with
maggot wound was also successfully treated with local
application of turpentine oil and iodine. All the 5
(83.33%) animals of group-III were recovered
completely with an exception of 1 (16.67%) animal that
affected clinically with mastitis and maggot wounds in its
feet. The animal affected with mastitis and maggot
wound was treated successfully by intramuscular
injection of Gentamicin, turpentine oil and regular
dressing of wound with iodine. All the 3 (100%) animals
of group-IV were treated successfully without any
complication. In group-V, only 2 (66.67%) animals
recovered completely, while 1 (33.33%) animal became
complicated with maggot wound in its feet and finally
there was complete avulsion of one hoof. The wound
was treated completely by local application of turpentine
oil and Lorexane cream within 14 days. Systemic
reactions like fever and other clinical syndrome like
salivation, anorexia, smaking of lips, shaking of head
and stamping of their feet were almost disappear within
7 days and the lesions healed completely almost about
14 days. Similar observation also made by (2).
Therefore, it can be concluded that animals treated
with Gentamicin along with 5% Povidon iodine is highly
effective followed by Enrofloxacin along with 2%
NaHCO3 and can be apply for successful therapeutic
measures in field conditions.

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2.

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