Infectious Bovine Keratoconjuctivitis (Pinkeye) Infection in a Dairy Cattle Herd in Kenya

Abstract

Infectious bovine keratoconjuctivitis (IBK) or Pinkeye is a highly contagious, non-fatal eye disease of cattle worldwide but has marked economic impact due to production losses, rapid spread of the disease in a herd and treatment costs. A cross sectional study was done to determine the causes of pink eye infections in Ilulla dairy farm in Eldoret of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya from November 2015 to February 2016. Any cattle that showed signs of eye disease (lacrimation, photophobia and corneal opacity) were recruited for this study. A total of thirty heads of cattle that were positive on clinical examination of the affected eyes, were restrained in a crash and conjunctiva swabs were collected for bacteriological evaluation. Bacterial cultures were grown on blood agar media and colonial morphology recorded. Bacteria were identified after staining bacterial smears with Gram’s stain. Antibiotic sensitivity tests were done for positive colonies. Moraxella bovis, a gram negative short rod which occurred in pairs or singly was confirmed in 33% of the ocular infections, other bacteria isolated included Staphylococcal aureus at 67% and Escherichia coli at 7% of the infections. Majority of the Moraxella infections were observed in calves 4 out of 8 (50%) and heifers 5 out of 14 (35.7%) while only 1 out of eight (12.5%) adults were infected. The infections were observed in Friesians, Ayrshires and Guernseys. The bacteria were sensitive to wide range of antibiotics tested but were resistant to sulphamethoxazole. Some of the risk factors observed included; high density of face flies, feeding of dry dusty hay and the long dry spell during the time of the study. The infected animals were treated using Ampliclox® and measures to control flies around the milking parlour were instituted