Re: [AlpacaTalk] Re: Coccidiia
Hi Sue,
Actually, in alpacas, antibodies do not cross the placenta and to make matters even tougher, the alpaca's gut will only allow absorption of antibodies for the first 48 hours. So passive immunity is an even a bigger issue in alpacas (and other camelids). Many breeders will draw blood to test specifically for the IgG to be certain that transfer has occurred in sufficient quantities (usually over 800 micrograms) 48 hours or so after the cria is born.
There are specific RID plates used to test this and many folks keep plasma on hand to administer either IV or IP to their crias should they test low. Some will even administer the plasma orally via a feeding tube in the first 24 or even 48 hours if they think there may be an inadequate transfer.
Things get mucked up a bit if a breeder uses goat or cow colostrum, for the IgG RID plates are specific for camelid IgG and don't test for cow or goat.
Alpaca dams will continue to produce antibodies in their milk, but these only confer immunity in the gut and as far as I know there are no studies that have tackled the effectiveness of that protection against harmful gut organisms, but it would be interesting to study cria resistance to parasites when on the teet as opposed to resistance on the bottle!
Anywho, you will hear alot of discussion about IgGs and such and here at our farm, we have actually started to produce our own plasma for us and for sale.
Laurel
The Shouvlins
Bluebird Hills Farm
Springfield, Ohio
937-206-3936
www.bluebirdhills.
bluebirdhills@
> Hi everyone,
> I am a medical proffessional who has just bought 3 alpacas in the uk. I
> find the discussion here interesting. We don't have the same diseases
> here. I can provide some info though.
> You are quite right that passive immunity is quite different. Basically
> the antibodies to disease are passed on in the milk (and prior to that
> through the placenta) just as in humans. It does of course require that
> the mother had the disease (or vaccination)
> can pass on. It is limited and can be overwhelmed by a severe infection.
> Active immunity on the other hand is where the animal is making it's own
> antibodies. The production of antibodies is active in that it can increase
> if the infection is severe. Even then it can be overwhelmed. Antibiotics
> are used in a very specific way where immunity is not guaranteed or is
> being overwhelmed. Very often the antibiotic is very specific to the
> disease present. However they cannot work without some immunity in most
> diseases which is why the other two types of immunity are important. The
> reason for that is that although it would be nice to think that
> antibiotics are bactericidal they are often only bacteriostatic. That
> means we would like them to kill the bugs but often they just prevent
> multiplication and let the immune system do the rest. I have no idea about
> specific antibiotics outside of human use. The immune system functions the
> same.
> Vaccinations are used to induce active immunity by 'pretending' to be the
> disease we need immunity to . Usually it is a killed version of the
> disease (like tetanus)or a live harmless relative ---not to be used in
> pregnancy (like our polio vaccine). It can be in the form of
> immunoglobulin in an emergency, this would be passive and wears off with
> time. Passive immunity wears off and cannot induce active immunity. We
> cannot predict precisely when passive immunity will wear off. It would
> seem wise to vaccinate before the passive immunity wears off. Vaccination
> does not guarantee immunity will take place and it can reduce with time.
> That is why a starter 'course' is given and boosters.
> When animals are outside their country of origin they do not have immunity
> to the diseases in the new environment. There is a genetic component to
> immunity, some individuals are naturally immune. Similarly new diseases
> can spread over a continent where there is no immunity(like swine flu). I
> think you have a lot more diseases over there than we have here for your
> alpacas and horses. A vaccine with 8 different diseases is amazing. I can
> understand that though as the loss of even one cria is devastating. If you
> gave them one at a time there would be a few slipping through the net and
> then herd immunity would be affected. Herd immunity is when sufficient
> members are vaccinated that the disease cannot hop from individual to
> individual and spread across a nation. It has nothing to do with
> individual herds. Having animals vaccinated protects them but also
> prevents the spread of disease across the country. We are in that position
> with blue tongue here. It is quite scary.
> I hope this isn't too much info!
> There is more specific info here as well as a link.
>
> http://www.vetmed.
>
> http://www.ianrpubs
>
> Best wishes
> Sue and her three boys
> Leroy Brown, Frankie Jones and George
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posted by Chaddo at 6:52 AM
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