Parasitic Infection of the Nervous System of Goats

Preview this chapter:

Parasitic Infection of the Nervous System of Goats, Page 1 of 1

< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/9789815256628/chapter-6-1.gif

The nervous system may be the primary or secondary site of parasitic infection; parasitic diseases may occur as opportunistic infections or arise in immunecompetent hosts. Parasitic infections cause a major economic impact on the farm goats industry, especially the infected central nervous system, as they cause a group of neurological diseases and constitute the biggest single and only challenge for veterinarians. The neurological health problems caused by these parasites affect goats as an outbreak in an endemic area or as sporadic cases in no endemic areas because of a decrease in good management, and immunosuppression caused by different stress as (transportation, grassing, pregnancy, and other risk factors). Parasites are a diverse group of organisms that can be broadly classified into single-celled organisms (i.e. protozoa) or multicellular helminthes (i.e. metazoan). Parasites can cause disease by physical disruption of tissue as they migrate, inflammatory response, provoking an intense, and often eosinophilia, some helminthic larvae can be very large, causing disease because of their expanding mass. A relatively large number of parasites are zoonotic and transmitted to humans, sometimes migrating through or lodging in tissues, including the CNS. Some parasites regularly cause symptomatic disease, while others cause asymptomatic diseases. Most goats through the word carry worms. However, the extent of their effect on goats in terms of deaths, loss of productivity, and the cost of control depends on the severity of the infestation and the species of the parasite, where goats are less able to develop natural immunity compared with other livestock species. Most common parasites have two stages of development: the larval stage, which may develop on pasture or tissue of goats as intermediate host, and the adult parasitic stage, which occurs in the intestine of goats or another definitive host.