What does the disease leptospirosis do to cattle?

Answer 1

Lepto is a disease which will cause severe spikes in fever, anorexia, anemia, jaundice, shortness of breath from congestion of the lungs and hemoglobin in the urine (or bloody urine) in calves. Fatalities in calves is not common, as often they will recover after 48 to 72 hours afterwards.

In older cattle, more obvious in dairy cattle than beef cattle, it will cause a drop in milk production and abnormal milk. Milk comes out thick, yellow, blood-tinged with thick clots and a high somatic cell count. Milk production can drop anywhere from 10 to 75%, depending on the strain. The udder is often soft and flabby, unique to leptospirosis. Cows will recover normal milk production after 10 to 14 days, though some cows that have had a severe drop in production often won't recover back to normal production during that lactation cycle.

The chronic form of Leptospirosis in cattle occurs in the form of stillbirths and abortions. Abortions are most common to occur during the third trimester of pregnancy. An "abortion storm" is often the primary indicator that leptospirosis infection is prevalent in the herd. Abortions mostly occur to bred heifers and can be sporadic. Leptospirosis can also cause infertility due to the possible consequence of infection in the uterus and oviducts.

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