Clinical

Clinical- Laboratory Treatment management of Degnala Disease in Buffaloes in Nepal
Dr.Kedar Karki .
Senior Veterinary Health Management Cosultant.
Divine Veterinary Clinic Sinamangal Kathmandu
ABSTRACT
Degnala diseases commonly affected buffaloes &cattle in Indian subcontinent. It occurs

in animal due to feeding of wet paddy straw. Study carried out in different districts of
Nepal after outbreak of skin lesion. Skin lesion includes alopecia, scales, cracking of
skin & ulcerative wound on different part of body. All animal were treated with
Antidegnala at the dose rate of 20 ml/animal for 10 days All animals respond well &
return to normal within 7 days.
Key words:
Degnala, Antidegnala, buffaloes, mycotoxin, Fusariam, collagen, elastin ,collagenase,
elastinase
Introduction:
Degnala disease is a common infection, affecting cattle & buffaloes in Indian

subcontinent. It occurs in animal, when they are exclusively feed on paddy straw get
wet during the maturing stage on plant in field or during threshing period & stored
without proper drying. Raising buffaloes and cattle in India is one way of augmenting the
financial resources of village people. These animals are mainly raised on rice and wheat
straw which are of poor nutritional quality. Rice and wheat plant when infested by
fungus Fusarium causes severe health problem. Introduction
Paddy harvesting, threshing and its storage are major agricultural activities in south Asia
during the November. Such rice straw is the major fodder for cattle and buffaloes during
winter lean period. It´s a fact that rice production needs source of water supply for
irrigation as water is indispensable throughout production period. The rice straw should
be properly dried before feeding otherwise the undried straw might desiccate and such
straw feeding would cause adverse effect in health of cattle and buffaloes.
The harvesting of paddy was adversely affected in Nepal and other south Asian
countries Due to long rain during the month of November and December. The rice plants
were submerged in the paddy field and the rice straw got desiccated. Due to rain threat
the farmers were compelled to store the rice straw without thorough drying.
As a consequence symptoms like drying and necrosis of tail and ear tip, swelling of legs
and then drying, necrosis and gangrenous lesion on foot, reduction in milk production by
70-80% were observed in buffaloes fed to such straw. In Nepal such conditions were
reported from districts like Jhapa, saptari, siraha, Rautahat, Chitwan, nawalparasi,
Kathmandu, Nuwakot,Banke and Lamjung. The vet doctors and technicians working in
such areas were treating such condition diagnosing as FMD, Black Quarter etc but
without success.
Infections that may be debilitating in nature can cause significant economic losses as a
result of decreased production confounded by reduced growth rate, mortality and poor
animal performance. Almost all cases showed gangrene of the tail, which was shriveled
and cold to the touch. Invariably, one or both ears showed signs of dry gangrene. In
some cases the muzzle and even the tip of the tongue became gangrenous and were
shed. One or more hooves showed lesions in varying stages of development. In some
cases the affected feet and legs were swollen up to the knee; hair was denuded and
inflammatory changes set in. Later, wounds appeared on the coronet, fetlock, pastern,
and knee and in the hock region. In very advanced cases the lower regions of the feet
become gangrenous. In some cases the hooves were shed and bones were exposed. It
was fist time reported by shirlaw in 1939 from Seikhpura districts (Pakisthan) near deg
Nala. After this, the disease was reported from many parts of India from time to time like
Punjab (Karla et al., 1972), Pakistan(Ifran et al (1984-860) Gujrat (Jadhav et al., 2003)
and West Bengal (Sikdar et al., 2000). The cause of symptoms in this disease has been
thoroughly studied by this columnist during his Master degree in veterinary medicine.
The produced by the metabolism of Fusariam fungus dissolves the collagen and elastin
into collagenase and elastinase respectively. As a result in the dependent parts of ear,
tail, foot blood supply is obstructed and ultimately tissue die of anoxia. In addition to this
toxin severely affects liver, lungs, heart, and kidney Karki 2012 The present study
reports the outbreak of degnala disease in the cattle and their management
Materials and Methods
An outbreak of skin lesion of 10 districts in year 2012 observed in buffaloes. Skin

lesion characterized by alopecia, scales, cracking of skin, ulcerative wound on different
part of the body. The animals had history of change the previous straw and fed with
mould paddy and lentil straw in recent past. On the basis of these clinical sign and
history affected animals were diagnosed as clinical cases of degnala disease. These
clinical finding correlates with findings of Kaushik and Sinha (1999). All animals were
treated with Antidegnala liquid( 5%) of Arsenic sulphate medical grade.
Results and Discussion
Improvements of clinical signs were noticed within 72 hrs and all animals responded
well and returned to normally within 7 days Karki et al., (2008) & 2012 observed
complete recovery from mycotoxin by the injection of anti Degnala liquor (diethylamine
acetarsol derivatives). Present recovery indicates that theCompound act as antifungal &
helps in controlling the mycotoxins. On the basis of this study, it could be concluded that
in the field level successful treatment of degnala disease in bovine can be done by
Antidegnala liquid . pentasulphate mixture & broad spectrum antibiotics.
References
1. ARORA, S. P. (1980): Use of radioactive selenium for studies on Degnala
disease. J. Nuclear Agri. Biol. 9, 11-13.
2. BLOOD, D. C., O. M. RADOSTITS (1989): Veterinary Medicine, 7th ed. Bailliere
Tindall. London.
3. IRFAN, M. (1971): The clinical picture and pathology of Degnala disease in
buffaloes. Vet. Rec. 88, 422-424.
4. IRFAN, M., A. MAQBOOL (1986): Studies on Degnala disease in cattle and
buffaloes. Pak. Vet. J. 6, 87-93.
5. IRFAN, M., A. MAQBOOL, M. ASHFAQUE (1984): Importance of moulds, fungi
and mycotoxins in food and feeds. Pak. Vet. J. 4, 187-192.
6. KALRA, D. S., K. C. BHATIA, O. P. GAUTAM, M. V. S. CHAUHAN (1972): An
obscure disease (possibly Deg Nala disease) in buffaloes and cattle. Studies on
its epizootiolgy, pathology and etiology. Haryana Agri. Univ. J. Res. 2, 256-264.
7. KHAJARERN, J., S. KHAJARERN, C. RATANASETHAKUL (1990): Efficacy of
hydrated sodium calcium aluminosalicilate (Novasil) on the bioavailibility of
aflatoxins in the ducks. Proc. 7th Fed. Asian Vet. Assoc. Congress. Pattaya,
Thialand.
8. PATTERSON, D. S. P., B. A. ROBERTS (1977): Mycotoxins in food and feed.
Proceedings of second meeting on mycotoxins in animal disease. Aberdeen 1976
MAFF Pinner. p. 40.
9. SCHOENTAL, R. (1980): Save your animals from Deg Nala disease. J. Nuclear
Agri. Biol. 92, 27-28.
10. SHIRLAW, J. E. (1939): Deg Nala disease of buffaloes. An account of the lesions
and essential pathology. Indian Vet. Sci. Anim. Husb. 9, 853-864.
11. Karki, K. and Manandhar, p. 2008. Clinical- Epidemiological investigation of
mouldy corn poisoning due to penicillium spp. In mutes at Udaynagar district,
Nepali vet. word. 1: 107-110.
12. Karki, K. and Manandhar, p., Koirala, P. & Mandher, S. 2012. Moldy Rice straw
poisoning in dairy cattle in Kathmandu Valley Nepal. Bull. Unv. Pharma Life sci.
1: 18-20.
13. https://en.engormix.com/dairy-cattle/articles/degnala-disease-t35284.htm Why
Degnala disease epidemic in buffaloes throughout South East Asia this year?
14. Published on: 4/25/2012Author/s : Dr. Kedar Karki, Senior Veterinary Officer,
Central Veterinary Laboratory, Tripureshwor
15. Kaushik, S. K. and Sinha and Sinha, B. P. 2004. Heamatobiochemical profile in
clinical gangrenous syndrome. Indian J. Ani. Health.

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Clinical- Laboratory Treatment management of Degnala Disease in Buffaloes in Nepal

Senior Veterinary Health Management Cosultant.

Divine Veterinary Clinic Sinamangal Kathmandu

Degnala diseases commonly affected buffaloes &cattle in Indian subcontinent. It occurs

Degnala disease is a common infection, affecting cattle & buffaloes in Indian

Materials and Methods

An outbreak of skin lesion of 10 districts in year 2012 observed in buffaloes. Skin

Results and Discussion

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