Herd medication

A further extention of herd medication has often in the past been referred to as prophylactic treatment or disease prevention. Both terms are partially correct but the rationale for their application requires a basic knowledge of epidemiology. The application of pre-emptive medication depends upon the knowledge that a particular bacterial agent has been introduced into a population and is causing clinical disease in individuals within that population (5). Previous veterinary experience will have indicated that if medication is not applied to the group or herd then there will be a conti-... 

Wilson, D.J., Das, H.H., Gonzalez, R.N. and Sears, P.M. (1997), Association between management practices, dairy herd characteristics, and somatic cell count of bulk tank milk . Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 210, 1499-1502. 

The concept of mass medication can hardly be accepted outside the agricultural field, but the experience of veterinary practitioners who treat large herds or flocks of animals fully supports this concept, especially in those areas of animal management where it is essential to keep all the animals at a level of optimal productivity (8). 

The advent of modern herd health management programs, largely absent from the dairy industry even 10 to 15 years ago, are designed to improve dairy cow health through proper housing, nutrition, and preventive medical attention. The goals and objectives are similar to the IPM concept which reduces... 

On August 29, 1994 the FDA (Federal Register Vol 59, No. 166 page 44584) declared that the use of processed slaughter byproduct from adult sheep and goats in catde feed not safe and is unapproved as a food additive when added to ruminant feed. Since there is no documented occurrence of BSE in catde in the US, tissues derived from animals certified from herds in the US are acceptable as a source for the manufacture of collagen for medical devices. 

It appears that the animal-host-specific serotypes (e.g. 5. dublin in cattle and sheep, S. abortusovis in sheep and S, cholerasuis in pigs are not commonly associated with cases of human salmonellosis, though one rare outbreak due to S. dublin in unpasteurised milk has recently been reported by Small Sharp. This suggests that veterinary control measures, applied to eliminate clinical salmonellosis from herds and flocks, for justified medical and economic reasons, will be unlikely to reduce the incidence of food-borne outbreaks of human salmonellosis which appear to be caused primarily by opportunistic pathogens. 

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