Ibrahim Saleem (Abu Dhabi)
The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Safety Authority called on camel livestock breeders to take special measures against, prevent and treat the “communicable virus” in camels, by isolating the animal and informing the nearest veterinary clinic. It is also recommended to use a mixture of iodine and glycerin on the site of infection.
She pointed out that there is currently an effective vaccine against the disease, so it remains to isolate the sick animal from the rest of the herd, and to follow good health conditions within the herd, which are the only reasons to preserve the rest of the herd members, and “communicable rubella” is a severe and highly contagious viral disease characterized by the emergence of pests and nodules. Painful papules and bubbles, which turn into blisters and then into thick crusts with cracks in the area of the lips, snout and nose, and are accompanied by a rise in temperature, and the infection rarely spreads to other parts of the body, and the disease affects adult animals, and may be severe in young ages, and the cause of the disease. The virus is like smallpox.”
The authority identified the transmission of the disease through 3 ways: “direct contact between animals or through drinking and forage utensils, or the occurrence of cuts or scratches in the skin. It resists drying inside the crusts for a long period of more than a year, and remains effective at room temperature for a period of about 20 years, and it is sensitive to fat solvents, as it loses its effectiveness with chloroform and ether.
The authority indicated that pathological changes begin to appear 48 hours after entering the virus, where the lesions form mainly around the lips and the snout.
After 3 or 4 days, the pathological lesions begin to unite with each other, forming large masses of proliferating lesions resembling a wart, especially when they become covered with thick horny scales. As for young camels, pathological lesions may spread in general in the body, especially in the back of the extremities. And on the thighs and in the place where the births of females come out.
Anorexia
The animal also shows loss of appetite and inability to breastfeed as a result of pain with lethargy and general laziness, and in some cases a high temperature, and after 6-10 weeks the scales begin to disappear and recovery occurs and the animal gains long immunity, and the infection rate ranges between 90-100% in Young camels (from 1-3 years), the disease may occur at an age of less than a year, and the infection rate is between 10-20% in camels at the age of 4-6 years, and the incidence of the disease increases mainly in the moderate and warm months of the year, and infection can occur In humans, painless hard papules are observed in the area of entry of the virus and may lead to swollen lymph nodes.