Effects of probiotic supplementation on clinicopathological alterations in Barki sheep with Mange

Background

Ovine mange is a highly transmissible skin condition that typically results in significant economiclosses.

Aim

This research explored the clinicopathological alterations associated with mange in Barki sheep and evaluated the impact of integrating probiotics (ZAD) into the treatment protocol. Additionally, the study proposed diagnostic markers and indicators for assessing treatment prognosis.

Method

Twenty healthy lambs [control group (CG)] and 20 lambs suffered from mange symptoms (confirmed by skin scrapings) in the diseased group (DG). DG was divided into two groups: the traditional group (TG) was injected once with 1 ml/50 kg ivermectin 1% (Promectine, Invesa) subcutaneously injected + topical Zinc ointment, and the ZAD Group (ZG): received the same treatment + 5 ml/ head of ZAD orally, repeated daily for 3 weeks. Skin scraping was repeated weekly until complete curing in both groups. Blood samples were collected from CG, DG (before treatment), and TG and ZG (after recovery).

Result

DG (compared to CG) showed a significant (p < 0.05) innate immune response with hypercortisolemia and hypoinsulinemia, microcytic hypochromic anemia with leukocytosis and lymphocytopenia, hypoglycemia, hypoalbuminemia, hyperglobulinemia, hyperlipidemia, elevated liver and kidney function tests, decreased minerals and electrolytes, and hypozincemia. After treatment, the clinical symptoms and lesions completely recovered, and most of the estimated parameters reobtain their physiological ranges in TG and ZG on the 21st day. ZAD did not significantly impact the recovery or regression of lesions, but it markedly improved the diseased animals body weights and serum glucose in ZG (compared to CG and TG). Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and ferritin had the highest likelihood ratios among the estimated markers.

Conclusion

Ovine scabies can lead to systemic and clinicopathological changes, necessitating careful monitoring and intervention. Adding ZAD to the treatment of mangy sheep might help enhance their body weights and serum glucose levels, but it does not affect the healing or reduction of lesions. TAC and IL-1β serve as dependable indicators for diagnosing ovine scabies, whereas TAC and ferritin are valuable for evaluating treatment effectiveness.

Psoroptes mites infestation in a captive Burmese Red Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis subspecies rubidus) of Indo-Burma bio-diversity hotspot

An 8 years old male Burmese Red Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis sub species rubidus) from Aizawl Zoological Park was presented to the Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex. An exploratory skin scraping revealed existence of nymphal as well as adult stages of mites of the Psoroptes spp. which were not associated with any overt lesions typical to mite infestation such as pruritus, erythema or scaling of the epidermis. The mites were identified as per their morphology, size and shape. Haemato-biochemical analysis revealed alteration of certain haematological and biochemical parameters. The red blood corpuscles were found to have anucleate cells with mild to absent central pallor. The absolute counts showed neutrophilic leucocytosis with mild monocytosis and lymphocytosis. Eosinophilic count was towards the higher side, indicating that the infestation was mild. The serum calcium, albumin, triglyceride, urea nitrogen (BUN) were found to be lower than normal, whereas serum ALT, AST, LDH, ALP and serum amylase were higher than the established reference indices. Due to lack of haemato-biochemical reference values specific to captive Serow, emphasis was given in this report to establish baseline data for this species.