Abstract :
The paper comprises an overview of important or unusual goat diseases occurring in southern Africa, with the emphasis
on current effective disease control measures and recent developments in this field. The diseases are dealt with under four
headings: (1) Infections; (2) Parasites; (3) Plants and nutrition; (4) Genetic and other conditions. In each section, the following
are given more prominence: (1) Heartwater, certain clostridial diseases, pasteurellosis, abscessation and orf; (2) Haemonchosis,
coccidiosis and certain ectoparasites; (3) Redgut and phytobezoars; (4) Abortions, postnatal mortality, exposure, predation and
swelling disease. The major diseases of helminthosis and heartwater are dealt with at greater length. Helminth control currently
concentrates on individual treatment of badly affected goats, rather than mass treatment. This lowers the selection rate for
worms resistant to anthelmintics. A break with the old policy of “treat-all-and-move” is advocated for the same reason. The use
of the FAMACHA© system (clinical anaemia evaluation) for haemonchosis control in goats is explained and the potential of
body condition scoring for identifying animals heavily infected with other pathogenic helminths is highlighted. Replacement of
highly resistant worm populations by a dilution method is outlined and several practical measures for managing worms in goats
are given. The control of heartwater is determined by epidemiological and risk factors, comprising those affecting the vector
(climate, season, vegetation, wild reservoir hosts, tick control), the organism (strain virulence, infection rate of vectors), and the
host (species, age, breed, genetic resistance and immune status). In circumstances of very low infection risk, surveillance and
treatment is recommended. In higher risk situations, strict tick control or zero grazing may be the best option. In endemic areas,
immunity is the preferred and most reliable approach. This is achieved by exposure to infected ticks, vaccination and animal
selection. Details of these options and their practical implementation are given.
© 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.
