key: cord-022242-pb1p6vrd
authors: Stalheim, O.H.V.
title: Major Infectious Diseases
date: 2012-12-02
journal: Handbook of Animal Science
DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-08-092532-5.50015-5
sha: 
doc_id: 22242
cord_uid: pb1p6vrd

nan

into an animal and multiplies, the animal has an infectious disease. If it spreads to other animals, it is considered a contagious disease. Con sumers spend about $5 billion annually for veterinary services (Hayes, 1984) , and a significant number of people (< 100) become ill each year with a zoonotic disease (i.e., one that is transmissible from animals to man) (U.S. Public Health Service, 1984) . Depending upon the nature of the microbial agent, the route by which it enters an animal, the animal's innate or artificially induced immunity, and many other factors, the outcome of the infection can vary from inapparent to rapidly fatal. Some agents invade the skin, for example, and never penetrate deeper, while some proliferate and kill their host in days or hours (Siegmund, 1979) . Apparently, certain viruses have mutated so that they can attack a new host, and do so vigorously. The virus of avian influenza exists in many strains; some are highly virulent-the disease is called fowl plague and is an eradicable disease-while others are quite innocuous.

The methods used to control animal diseases have evolved from the early ideas that the diseases of man and beast represented divine re tribution for sins and had to be endured with patience. But in Germany during the seventeenth century, the desperate and heroic measures to control rinderpest (cattle plague), together with changes in attitude brought about by the Reformation, convinced the people that animal plagues could and must be ruthlessly stamped out. That policy was carried to England and then to the United States, where it was instituted and carried out by the Bureau of Animal Industry, USDA, in a series of brilliant programs, and the health of our animals was greatly improved (Stalheim, 1984) . At the present time, surveillance is emphasized to gether with a readiness to cope with outbreaks of infectious diseases. On the level of an infected animal, control and cure is often accom plished by the veterinarian and the owner using an appropriate com bination of testing and quarantine, chemotherapy and chemoprophylaxis, serum therapy and immunization, and other specialized procedures.

The following tabular lists of 218 animal diseases are quite limited. Many minor diseases have been omitted as well as immunologic dis eases, diseases of laboratory animals, nutritional deficiencies, toxicoses, behavioral problems, and diseases due to stress. However, the diseases of fish (Snieszko, 1970) , marine mammals (Fowler, 1978) , and fur-bearing animals (Lybashenko, 1973) now command much attention by a variety of biologists. In most cases, the names of the diseases conform to those selected for the Animal Diseases Thesaurus (Veterinary Services, USDA, 1984) , which was based on the 1971 Veterinary Subject Headings of the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau in England. Diseases that afflict more than one species have been listed under the most common host. For a fuller description of the geographic distribution of diseases, the reader is directed to Odend'Hal (1983) and Trevino and Hyde (1984) . 

Animal Health. Yearbook of Agriculture

Diseases of Fur-Bearing Animals

The Geographical Distribution of Animal Viral Diseases

The Merck Veterinary Manual

A Symposium on Diseases of Fishes and Shellfishes

Contributions of the Bureau of Animal Industry to the veterinary profession

Foreign Animal Diseases: Their Prevention, Diag nosis, and Control

Morbidity Mortality Annual Summary