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The most dangerous diseases that can affect your livestock
Bovine Tuberculosis
Cattle are prone to catch bovine TB. This can spread to people who handle cattle and who come into
contact with infected nasal mucus. Even someone who has had a BCG injection is at risk. A cattle
become extremely emaciated and will have acute respiratory distress among other symptoms.
Bovine TB is difficult to diagnose with clinical signs alone. In the early stages of TB, clinical signs are
not visible. In later stages, clinical signs may include emaciation, lethargy, weakness, anorexia, low-
grade fever, and pneumonia with a chronic, moist cough. Lymph nodes may also be enlarged.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a disease that’s fatal to cattle. Unfortunately, it can
spread to humans who have eaten, perhaps unknowingly, the spinal cord or brain of infected
animals. BSE appears in the human body as vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). There is no
evidence in Zimbabwe that farmworkers can contract vCJD from working with cattle.
Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of the
disease the cow becomes unable to move.
Cattle-associated leptospirosis (CAL)
Farmworkers can pick up the disease if cattle urine splashes into the nose, mouth or eyes, or enters
broken skin. Personal protective clothing and the control of urine in milking parlors can help
prevent this. The result is high fever, anemia, red urine, jaundice, and sometimes death in three to
five days. In older cattle, the initial symptoms such as fever and lethargy are often milder and
usually go unnoticed
Cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidiosis can be present in younger animals such as calves and lambs. People may contract
it when they come into contact with animal dung. Young children and old people are particularly
susceptible. The disease causes diarrhoea and stomach pain. Symptoms of this disease include
Watery diarrhea, dehydration, lack of appetite and weight loss.
E coli O157
E coli O157 is a bacterium. Cattle, sheep, and goats may have it in their guts. This doesn’t create any problems for the animals. Humans, however, can catch the disease from animal dung.
Nausea.

Symptoms include Vomiting, Stomach cramps (abdominal pain), Diarrhea that often is
bloody, Fever of about 100 F to 101 F (37.7 C to 38.3 C), Malaise, Loss of appetite and Mild
dehydration
Orf
Orf can lead to ulcers on the arms, hands, and face. The disease spreads from cuts and abrasions on
infected sheep and goats.
Psittacosis
Poultry is prone to carry psittacosis. It passes to humans when they breathe in poultry dust or
come into contact with the nasal mucus from an infected bird.
Ringworm
Horses, sheep, pigs, and cattle often get ringworm. This is a fungus that spreads to humans when the
spores enter the skin through grazes and cuts. Ulcers then form on the neck, head, arms, and hands.
The spores can lie around a farm wherever infected animals have passed.
Salmonella
Most farm animals can carry the salmonella bacterium. The most likely way humans get the disease
is by eating infected food. But it’s possible to develop salmonella poisoning by touching animal dung.
Streptococcus suis (S suis)
Pigs may carry S suis without giving any sign that they’re infected. The bacterium can pass to
humans by entering cuts on the skin or by inhalation.