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Veterinary Practitioner Vol. 10 No. 1 June 2009

1Assistant Professor, Veterinary Biochemistry.

IntroductionAmong the contagious diseases affecting cattle,

Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) is one of the mostimportant disease, affecting dairy cattle very acutely.The intensity of disease varies and results in lossof milk yield, abortion and even death of younganimals. In 2008, a major outbreak of FMD occurredin crossbred cows in Karur district of Tamil Nadu.The present study was undertaken to analyze theserum biochemistry and haematology of the FMDaffected crossbred animals.

Materials and MethodsBlood samples were collected from the FMD

affected crossbred cows (around 3 years of age)maintained by small scale farmers on the basal dietsavailable in the local area. The blood samples werecollected form the jugular vein into a vacutainercontain ing EDTA (1mg/ml) fo r haemato logicalinvestigations and with sodium fluoride (1 mg/ml)for biochemical analysis. Haemoglobin (Hb) contentof blood was estimated by Sahli’s method, totalerythrocyte count (TEC) and total leukocyte count(TLC) were determined by Neubaur’s slide method.Differential coun t of leukocytes was carried byGiemsa’s stain method. Biochemical analyses werecarried ou t with the reagents and proceduresprovided with kits (Span Diagnostics Ltd., Surat,India) . The data were analyzed statistically by ANOVAas per Snedecor and Cochran (1994).

Results and discussionsThe haemato log ical and biochemical

profile of the FMD affected crossbred cows are givenin Table 1 and 2, respectively .

BIOCHEMICAL AND HAEMATOLOGICAL PROFILE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

AFFECTED CROSSBRED COWS IN KARUR DISTRICT OF TAMIL NADU

R. Prakash Krupakaran1, T. Porcheziyan and S. SivseelanVeterinary University Training and Research Centre

Karur-639006, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT

Serum biochemical and haematological changes in crossbred cows affected with Foot and Mouth disease(FMD) were studied in Karur district of Tamil Nadu. Cattle affected by FMD developed mild anaemia, leucocyto-sis and lymphocytosis. Biochemical prof ile showed significant reduction in total protein, albumin, glucose,urea, cholesterol and calcium levels in the serum. The serum phosphorus level was found to be increasedsignif icantly.

Key words: Foot and Mouth disease, cows, serum biochemistry and haematology.

The normal values of the cows are correlatedwell with the report by Payne and Mitra (1981). InFMD affec ted animals, there was a significantdecrease (P<0.01) in Hb content, TEC and TLC.Similar observations have been recorded by Dhandaand Gopalkrishna (1948). In recovered animals, Hbcontent and TLC were recovering towards normalbut the TEC showed further decrease indicating thepersistence of depression of erythropoiesis due tothe d isease. The d ifferen tial leucocyte countsshowed increased number and a non-significantchange in neutrophil count in FMD affected animals.The increase in TLC was mainly due to increase inlymphocytes, as reported by Coles (1986).

There was significant (P<0.01) reduction in theblood glucose, serum concentrations of calcium,total protein and albumin in the FMD affected cattle,when compared with the normal animals. As the liverfunction is severely altered in FMD affected animals,the total protein and albumin levels may be lowerthan normal. As the animal is not taking feed properly,there is reduc tion in the b lood glucose level.Interestingly, the phosphorus level was significantlyhigher (P<0.01) in FMD affected animals. Thisincrease could be the result of higher ATP utilizationand breakdown by the virus present in the body ofthe affected animals. Serum cholesterol, serum ureaand globulin content in case of diseased animalswere found to be decreased. The reduction in theurea content may be related to the damage of theliver. This finding is well corroborated with the earlierreports of Mohapatra et al. (2005).

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Veterinary Practitioner Vol. 10 No. 1 June 2009

ReferencesColes, F.H. (1986) Veterinary Clinical Pathology . 4 th ed.,

W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, London.Dhanda, M.R and Gopalkrishna, V.R. (1948) Foot and Mouth

diseases of animals in India . ICAR. New Delhi.

Mohapatra, A.P.K. et al. (2005) Indian Vet. J. 82: 141-144.Payne, A.K. and Mitra, D.N. (1981) Indian Vet. J . 58: 526.Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G. (1994) Statistical

Methods. 8th ed. The Iowa State University Press,Ames, Iowa, USA.

Table 1: Haematological profile of normal FMD affected and recovered animals. (n=6)

Profile studied Normal FMD affected RecoveredHaemoglobin (g%) 12.11r 0.12 10.76r 0.31* 11.13r 0.18Total erythrocyte count(million/cubic mm)

8.31r 0.14 2.27r0.22* 7.01r0.12

Total Leucocyte count(103/cubic mm)

7.82r 0.33 10.78r 0.41* 9.89r0.15

Differential countsNeutrophils (%)

34.00r1.10 30.50r 0.86* 33.01r 0.98

Eosinophils (%) 7.83r 0.66 5.66r 0.88 5.20r0.55Basophils (%) 0 0 0Lymphocytes (%) 88.50r 4.5 62.16r 2.00* 61.50r 1.67Monocytes (%) 1.91r 0.45 1.55r 0.66 0.82r0.30

* P<0.01

Table 2: Biochemical profile of normal, FMD affected and recovered animals. (n=6)

Profile studied Normal FMD affected RecoveredCalcium (mg/dl) 10.31r0.33 9.06r0.44* 9.32r0.22Phosphorus (mg/dl) 4.14r 0.34 8.99r0.36* 7.01r0.33Blood glucose (mg/dl) 49.15r1.55 29.18r 1.66* 30.12r 1.33Cholesterol (mg/dl) 121.33r 5.51 117.12r6.23* 101.46r5.22Serum Urea (mg/dl) 25.66r2.43 21.98r3.34 18.00r 1.98Total protein (g/dl) 6.44r 0.14 6.22r0.17* 6.22r0.21Serum albumin (g/dl) 4.45r 0.12 3.06r 0.12 3.03r0.15Serum globulin (g/dl) 1.99r 0.25 3.16r 0.24 3.19r 0.25Albumin-globulin ratio 2.23 0.97 0.95

* P<0.01