B.AHE.0319 - Risk factors, treatment and prevention options for pink eye disease in cattle

Summary

Pinkeye is an economically important disease of cattle, identified in MLA’s priority list of endemic diseases for red meat industries. It can cause permanent blindness, impacting reproduction rates, workplace health and safety, and animal welfare. This project will estimate the prevalence, identify risk factors and compare the effectiveness of currently available treatments and vaccine for pinkeye disease.

Objectives

The aim of this project was to update the status of frequency of occurrence of this disease and its economic significance, to identify risk factors for the disease and assess efficacy of different treatments and vaccination. Specifically, the objectives of this project were to:

- estimate the frequency of occurrence of the disease and impact on beef production in Australia
- identify animal and herd level risk factors for pinkeye occurrence
- evaluate the efficacy of different treatments on naturally occurring pinkeye
- evaluate the efficacy of the Piliguard® vaccine to prevent the disease.

Key findings

The cattle industry loses $9.67 million each year on the cost of three popular pinkeye medications alone. There is an increased risk of pinkeye on farms located in Southern Australia, of smaller grazing areas with cattle under two years of age, as well as farms that had high fly levels, low rainfall and high dust levels. Australian producers with smaller farm sizes, who yard their cattle more often and rate pinkeye as highly painful were more likely to treat for pinkeye more frequently.

Pinkeye ointments containing cloxacillin were the most commonly used to treat the disease and the most common reason for not treating pinkeye among producers was that it was too difficult to treat. Pinkeye impacts to farm productivity was rated as high among producers with cattle less than two years of age. Pinkeye as an animal welfare issue was rated by most producers as high severity. Reported spending on treatment increased with herd size and number of affected cattle, as well as perception of the impact on farm productivity.

Producers' attitudes towards the treatment and impact of pinkeye vary, but they are increasingly aware of the animal welfare implications. The first field trial of the only commercial pinkeye vaccine in Australia in seven herds in southwestern Queensland during two pinkeye seasons found the vaccine was not protective against naturally occurring pinkeye.

Benefits to industry

The project updated information about the occurrence and economic significance of pinkeye and engendered renewed interest from the international research community in the disease. The project generated evidence about disease risk factors, treatment and prevention options and highlighted ways to improve on-farm outcomes of pinkeye.

MLA action

Publishing the final report on the MLA R&D website.

Future research

We recommend that the cattle industry update economic models of disease impact based on project findings, increase funding for pinkeye control in southern Australia, develop guidelines for pinkeye treatment based on the project findings and educate producers about the study findings. To better manage pinkeye at the farm level, we encourage producers to control fly levels, monitor younger cattle more often and increase zebu content if it aligns with their breeding plan. We also recommend discontinuing outdated treatments and avoid spending on pinkeye vaccine.

Further work should be done to understand the influence of dust levels on pinkeye, finalise eye scores developed in the project and develop of an app for diagnosing pinkeye. Research should be done to develop a sensitive and specific diagnostic test for pinkeye and the pilot study done in this project to investigate pharmacokinetics of treatments should be extended.