Animal disease emergencies can happen. When one does, efforts to control and contain the spread will be integral to protect animal health. Responders must have a basic understanding of how diseases are able to move between animals. We call these routes of transmission. We’re going to provide an overview of them here. With this knowledge in hand, you’ll be better prepared when a situation occurs.

No matter the source of animal diseases, they spread through a myriad of routes. There are five main ones to keep in mind. These are direct contact, inhalation of aerosols, ingestion, indirect transfer by fomites, and vector transmission.

Direct contact

Let’s start with one of the primary methods of disease spread between animals. It happens when a vulnerable animal encounters an infected one. Depending on the micro-organisms, diseases might be transferred directly through faeces, urine, blood, or saliva. They may also spread via contact with infected animal tissues or lesions.

Entry into the vulnerable animal tends to happen through contact with the mucus membranes. But they can also enter through breaks in the skin or open wounds. So, potential exposures can happen due to biting or rubbing against each other, or nose-to-nose contact. Some diseases can even spread during breeding, or through milk when nursing. You need to be very careful with direct contact to maximise animal health.

Aerosol transmission

This consists of the transfer of disease agents in droplets spread via the air. Another animal then inhales them. Most micro-organisms can’t survive for too long in the aerosol droplets. Due to this, you need close proximity of susceptible and infected animals for disease transmission. Additionally, aerosol transmissions can happen when infected droplets from birthing materials, urine, or faeces get stirred up from contaminated dust and soil, and inhaled.

Oral transmission

With the oral transmission of diseases, it involves ingestion by consuming contaminated water or feed. Or, animals can chew on environmental objects covered in contaminants. Water and feed contaminated with faeces, saliva, or urine are regularly the cause of oral transmission. Faecal-oral transmission of diseases is a serious problem. Sharing water and feed stations can also exacerbate things.

Indirect transmission by fomites

These are inanimate objects capable of transmitting micro-organisms from infected animals to others. Examples of fomites that could be around during response include shovels, bedding, water or feeding buckets, and needles. Even things like vehicles, runs, or clothing can become contaminated and spread pathogens.

Vectors

Finally, we have disease spread by vectors, or living organisms. These can transfer micro-organisms from an infected animal to another. Flies, biting midges, ticks, and mosquitoes are common disease carrying pests. At times, birds or rodents can also act as disease factors.

Let us help you with animal health

At JS Hubbuck Ltd, we have been providing help to farmers for several decades. We have merchandise that can help in all kinds of areas. Animal health is certainly one of the most important. So, if this is something you’re struggling with, please let us know.