Clinical, Hematological, and Biochemical Alterations Associated With Early and Late Infection of Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle in Egypt

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate clinical, hematological, and biochemical alterations associated with early (during the first week.) and late (after one month) of lumpy skin disease (LSD) infection in cattle infected during an outbreak of LSD in Egypt. Animals which were clinically examined directly after the clinical onset of LSD showed, firm elevated skin nodules that were distributed all over the body, fever (more than 40℃) associated with anorexia, general weakness, reduced milk yield, enlargement of superficial lymph nodes, and edema in the brisket and/or limbs. Examination of the affected animals one month after the disease onset revealed marked weight loss, shrunk of skin nodules and formation of sit fast. There were significant increases in body temperature, pulse and respiratory rate in all animals infected with LSD with significant decrease of ruminal movement compared to control group. DNA extracted from skin samples collected from LSD infected animals showed bands at the expected size (172 base pairs) by partial amplification of viral attachment protein using PCR. Reduced RBCS count, Hb content, HCT, and MCHC values with a significant increase in MCV in all LSD infected cows compared to the control group, while leukogram analysis revealed leucopenia and lymphopenia during the 1st week. Post-infection, however, one month post-infection revealed granulocytic leukocytosis. In addition, all LSD infected cows showed inflammatory thrombocytopenia. Animals during early LSD infection showed significant reduction in total protein, albumin, glucose and TAC and significant increase in ALT, AST, ALP, LDH, CPK, C-troponin-1, total and direct bilirubin, creatinine, K and MDA levels compared to the control group. While animals during late infection showed significant decrease in glucose, ALT, AST, LDH, CPK, C-troponin-1, direct bilirubin, K and MDA levels and significant increase in total protein, albumin and TAC compared to the early infection group. It can be concluded that, LSD infection in cattle revealed critical alterations in some hematological and serum biochemical parameters during both early and late stages of infection with negative impact on different organ functions including skin, muscle, liver, kidney and heart.