Bovine Ephemeral Fever – 3 Day Sickness

3 day sickness is a disease of cattle seen predominantly in Southern – Eastern Australia down through NSW where the vectors (for eg. Midges) travel. The typical time period where cases tend to increase is January to April.  With earlier Spring rain though, this disease can be seen from October.

Clinical Signs

Clinical signs include fever and inappetence, muscle stiffness, and massive drops in milk production. The disease tends to progress over 3 days, as the name aptly suggests, and the majority of animals tend to recover after this period. 

However, bulls, heavy set cows/bullocks and high producing cows tend to be hit the hardest and may require treatment.  As such we highly recommend vaccinating these animals specifically prior to the summer around Sept/Oct.  They require an initial 2 shots 4 weeks apart and then a yearly booster.

If you are unsure about whether your animal requires treatment for 3 days sickness we recommend giving the clinic a call and speaking to one of the veterinarians.

Prevention

Prevention is always better than a cure! Bovine Ephemeral Fever vaccination is available and is best administered prior to Summer. The decision that producers should make is whether the cost of vaccination is worth while for their herd.

At a minimum we recommend all bulls be vaccinated as a high fever can decrease semen quality for months, and even lifelong in some bulls. The virus also can destroy the nerve sheaths making animals unable to rise again.  These animals can look completely normal eating and drinking fine but never able to stand.  These animals often need to be euthanased.

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