Injection‐site lesion prevalence and potential risk factors in UK beef cattle

Cresswell, E.; Remnant, John; Butterworth, Andrew; Wapenaar, Wendy

doi:10.1136/vr.103778

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(27 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Poor vaccination compliance has been noted before in the farming community; beef farmers showed similar variability in knowledge of site of application, when asked about cattle vaccination. 28 It was interesting to note that sheep farmers appeared to know more about vaccination compared with beef farmers, despite having fewer discussions with their vet. It was encouraging to hear some respondents were excluding sick or weakly animals, which resembles indings in cattle vaccination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do UK sheep farmers use orf vaccine correctly and could their vaccination strategy affect vaccine efficacy?

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Orf, a parapoxvirus, is a zoonosis causing a contagious pustular dermatitis, and has a high morbidity in sheep worldwide. Despite a vaccine being available, orf prevalence in England is estimated to be 2 per cent in ewes and 20 per cent in lambs. There is concern that farmers are not complying with the vaccination guidelines and therefore the objective of this study was to investigate if orf vaccine is used correctly on sheep farms in the UK and to identify barriers and motivators of sheep farmers to use the vaccine. The survey was completed by 570 respondents. The results show several areas of concern; only 27 per cent of respondents used the correct site (axilla), 37 per cent of respondents would use orf vaccine up to a week after opening a vial (shelf life is eight hours), 33 per cent of respondents would vaccinate their ewes too close to lambing and 73 per cent of respondents did not separate vaccinated and non-vaccinated animals (both leading to infection risk for non-vaccinated animals). When vaccinating, only 53 per cent of respondents were wearing gloves and 31 per cent washed their hands just before and immediately after vaccination. Results demonstrate that orf vaccination is not carried out correctly on all UK sheep farms, which is likely to affect vaccine efficacy. A concern around vaccine efficacy, the ‘hassle’ of the scratch administration, the ‘risk of making it worse’ and the zoonotic risk when vaccinating were the most common barriers for using orf vaccine, highlighting the importance of veterinary advice when prescribing orf vaccine.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do UK sheep farmers use orf vaccine correctly and could their vaccination strategy affect vaccine efficacy?

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A more practical measure to avoid sciatic nerve damage would be to alter injection practices. The neck is the recommended site for intramuscular injection in cattle 19 but the results indicated that this site was currently not most commonly used by the participants of this study. In a US study veterinary surgeons favoured the neck for injecting reproductive products however, dairy farmers in the same study used the dorsal gluteal region more frequently 20 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…This is thought to be due to the fact that there are numerous small muscles in the neck and the likelihood that injections will fall between fascial planes is greater, allowing more rapid dispersal of drugs 11 . A UK study of beef cattle showed that ISLs can be significantly large (≤23 cm) 12 and therefore have the potential to affect the sciatic nerve's normal function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk of iatrogenic damage to the sciatic nerve in dairy cattle

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sciatic nerve damage in cattle could lead to pain, paralysis and lameness, creating welfare and productivity issues. Damage following intramuscular injection is highlighted in some clinical texts although there is no indication of prevalence. This cross-sectional study investigated the anatomical size and position of the sciatic nerve in four dairy cattle type cadavers. To evaluate the risk of iatrogenic damage, 54 participants placed needles in the dorsal gluteal region of two cadavers each, as per their routine intramuscular injection method. The distance from needle tip to the sciatic nerve was estimated for each. Sixty-nine per cent of injections were placed within 5 cm of the sciatic nerve. Direct nerve puncture occurred in the cadaver in poorest body condition. A short questionnaire revealed that 70 per cent of the participants regularly used the dorsal gluteal region for intramuscular injection and 50 per cent commonly used a volume of ≥20 mL at a single site. It is concluded that the sciatic nerve is at considerable risk of iatrogenic damage. The neck should be promoted as the optimum site for intramuscular injection and improved guidelines are required if the gluteal region is to remain in common use. A lateral site, between the tuber coxae and tuber ischium, is recommended.

show abstract

“…Similarly, publications of slaughterhoused based initiatives only occasionally seek to characterize any potential bias. Mostly there is either a reliance on a sampling methodology that is structured to be representative [e.g., (46,47)], or a brief mention that a potential for bias does, or doesn't, exist [e.g., (48)], with limited attempts for more in depth assessments, such as that in (49) or the more comprehensive investigation of active sheep TSE surveillance (19). If animal health surveillance is to develop, then these types of assessments are important foundations that need to be laid, regularly evaluated and easily available to users of the data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%