Beef Tips

Tag: anaplasmosis

Dealing with Anaplasmosis

by Sandy Johnson, extension beef specialist, Colby and A.J. Tarpoff, DVM, beef extension veterinarian

A 2017 survey of herds across Kansas found Anaplasmosis positive herds in all reporting districts.  See the May 2018 Beef Tips for a summary.  It has been a more common problem in the eastern third of the state where prevalence is still higher, but increasingly noted across the state.  The disease is caused by the Anaplama marginale bacterium which lives in the red blood cells of infected animals.  Once an animal becomes infected, the body’s own immune system recognizes the abnormal red blood cells and removes the infected cells from the body. When the normal creation of new red bloods cells can’t keep up with the loss of the infected ones, the animal becomes anemic.  The loss of red blood cells leads to a decrease oxygen carrying ability which results in clinical signs of disease. It usually takes about a month from time of infection to clinical disease but the range is 6-70 days. Although this disease can be spread during any time of year, clinical cases are most common during the late summer and early fall when transmission threats increase.  Continue reading “Dealing with Anaplasmosis”

Dealing with anaplasmosis in cows

by David Rethorst, DVM, Veterinary Diagnostic Lab

Historically, anaplasmosis in Kansas has been diagnosed in the counties east of and including the I-35 corridor.  The 2013 Disease Trend Map from the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) shows that anaplasmosis was diagnosed in 37 of the 51 counties in this area and only 8 of the 54 counties west of the I-35 corridor.

 

In 2015, the KSVDL map revealed that cattle infected with anaplasmosis were diagnosed in 45 of the 51 eastern counties and 24 of 54 counties west of the I-35 corridor.  Three of the fifteen counties west of the I-35 corridor, yet east of and including the 281 corridor, had positive cases of anaplasmosis in 2013.

 

Yet in 2015, cattle infected with anaplasmosis were diagnosed in 13 of the 15 counties.  Are there more cases of anaplasmosis creeping west in Kansas or are our improved diagnostic tools and our awareness of the disease helping us do a better job of finding this problem in our cows?  Or is it a little bit of both?  With cows being routinely hauled into and out of disease endemic areas on an annual basis for summer grazing and reports of strains of Anaplasma marginale that are resistant to chlortetracycline, one can see why the prevalence is increasing in Kansas.

 

Continue reading “Dealing with anaplasmosis in cows”