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SOREMOUTH

Soremouth is a virus that is part of the chicken pox family. Also known as Contagious Ecthyma, Orf, and "scabby mouth" and caused by an epitheliotropic parapoxvirus, it enters the goat's body via cuts and abrasions. Soremouth occurs worldwide, is highly contagious, and there is no known cure.

A goat infected with Soremouth has fever blister-like lesions on the hairless or lightly haired parts of the its body (lips, vulva, teats, scrotum, and sometimes face, ears, and coronary band above the hoof ).

Soremouth is a life-threatening disease to nursing kids. Infected lips transmit the virus to the dam's teats, making her so uncomfortable that the doe often refuses to let her kids nurse. Infected kids will die from starvation if they can't nurse. It is not unusual for most or all of the kids to contract Soremouth. You may have to bottle or tube feed kids who cannot nurse until the blisters dry and heal. Heavy-milking dams may develop congested udder or mastitis as they continue to produce milk but don't let kids nurse their blistered teats.

Soremouth must run its course This can be as long as three to four weeks per goat. Goats that are immune to the virus are are still carriers,so they can infect other goats. Most goats that survive Soremouth become immune to it and usually don't contract it again, similar to humans who have had chickenpox.

You can do several things to minimize discomfort to Soremouth-infected goats. My preferred treatment is the application of Gentian Violet to the blisters and scabs. Soremouth is highly contagious to both humans and goats, so use disposable gloves. Gentian Violet is an old-time inexpensive purple-colored liquid medication used to treat fever blisters and impetigo. It is available without prescription from a pharmacy, but it may have to be ordered and will probably be kept behind the counter. Gentian Violet dries the blisters and hastens healing. Drying scabs sometimes contain staph bacteria or screwworm maggots. Gentian Violet kills bacteria that may cause a secondary infection. Systemic antibiotics are recommended if a secondary bacterial infection exists. The purple color of Gentian Violet gives you the added benefit of being able to see which goats have already been treated. Campho-Phenique is another good product to apply topically to blisters and scabs. Campho-Phenique Maximum Strength also has antibacterial properties.

Soremouth vaccine is available over the counter (Jeffers 1-800-533-3377) but the value of using it is fiercely debated among goat producers. Because the virus is "live," as opposed to "killed" or "modified," the vaccine purposefully introduces Soremouth into the herd. Goat raisers who use this "live" vaccine administer it before breeding when there are no kids nursing dams with the hope that when kids are born and nursing, the dams will have already had the disease. However, there is no sound evidence that a vaccinated doe will pass immunity to Soremouth on to her kids. I don't use the vaccine because I think there are more negatives than positives to its use. You have to decide for your own herd.

The primary users of the Soremouth vaccine run goats on very large acreage under minimal management, so they routinely vaccinate against Soremouth to try to avoid losing the kid crop. Goats raised under more managed conditions usually are not vaccinated. This is a generalized statement but also a fairly accurate evaluation of how this vaccine is used.

The "live" vaccine is made of ground-up scabs and is applied to a hairless area of the goat (tailweb or inside the ear) after the surface of the skin has been scratched. Within one to three days, scabs will form, signifying that the vaccine has "taken." Goats who do not develop scabs at the vaccination site probably have an immunity to Soremouth but are carriers of the virus. Humans coming into direct contact with the Soremouth vaccine usually contract the disease.

Once Soremouth is on the property, it is there to stay. Clean up of pens, pastures, and paddocks is sometimes possible by bleaching, burning, removing topsoil, and keeping animals off that particular ground for an extended period of time. The size of the area, available manpower, and cost will determine if this approach is practical.

The smart goat raiser learns to manage around Soremouth. A good bio-hazard management practice is to require that all visitors to your property place the soles of their shoes in a shallow pan filled with a small amount of bleach. At some point in your career, you will encounter Soremouth. Be prepared to deal with this disease.

For many goat raisers, a reasonable case can be made to decide not to vaccinate and instead let Soremouth run its course, using the supportive therapy cited. This is particularly beneficial if there are no nursing kids in the herd when infection occurs.

PEARMOUTH: There is a lesion that mimics Soremouth that can occur on goats in areas where plants with thorns and briars widely grow. Pearmouth mimics Soremouth in appearance, but doesn't produce the blisters and seepage accompanying Soremouth lesions and isn't an illness. Pearmouth usually appears at the corners of the mouths of kids and adults who have been searching for and eating new green plants that they find underneath thorny plants especially during hot and dry weather.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, ONION CREEK RANCH, Texas 1.1.26