Conjunctivitis is the
swelling (inflammation) or infection of the membrane lining
the eyelids.
Pink eye is a common term used to describe many different
diseases affecting the eyes of animals. It is an infectious
and contagious bacterial disease of many animals including
goats. It can be caused by several different microorganisms.
Two of those microorganisms are Chlamydia psittaci ovis and
Mycoplasma conjunctivae. The Chlamydia
organism is the same organism that can cause abortions
in does. The pink eye infection can be contagious to people
so be careful when handling animals with this disease.
Pink eye generally
will spread from a single animals to many others in your
herd Spreading occurs from direct contact between each
other or through flies or dust that can carry the bacteria
to the eye. The condition is painful and may affect just one
eye or both. Whatever causes the problem, the
symptoms are similar. Those symptoms may include:
-
blinking repeatedly
-
an
aversion to bright sunlight
- the
side of the face below the eye may be wet from tearing
-
the membranes of the eye appear red and inflamed
-
the eyes become cloudy or opaque
-
an
ulcer may develop.
-
can cause temporary blindness or permanent blindness in
severe cases.
Treatment
Affected animals
should be isolated from the rest of the herd to prevent the
spread of the disease to other animals. Consider isolating
them in a clean, dry, shady place.
Pink eye is usually
treated with any number of antibiotics that are injected
into the body or placed directly in the eye. The most common
treatment is to apply terramycin ointment to the affected
eye(s) two to four times per day. Some veterinarians
recommend the use of intramammary mastitis tubes suchas as
"Today" for the treatment of pink eye. As with the
terramycin ointment, the antibiotic is applied directly to
the eye. Here is an ointment we have used
successfully. Triple Antibiotic Ophthalmic
Ointment -Triple Antibiotic Ophthalmic Ointment is a
combination of three antibiotics: Neomycin, Polymyxin B, and
Bacitracin. It is used to treat bacterial infections of the eyes
and eyelids. We do not use
eye medication that
is a spray or powder. They are more
irritating to the already inflamed eye. The animal's face should be cleaned and
the debris around the eye should be removed before applying
the medicine. If the eye looks swollen, that can be related to
inflammation and we will give Banamine injections in addition to
the other treatments.
When we have an animal that
is having cloudy eyes, we first treat with the ointment
after putting drops of penicillin or Biomycin in the eye. If
the clouding of the eye does not start clearing up in a day
or two, we also start giving injections of the Biomycin
under the skin once a day. If that does not seem to be
helping, we move to a stronger antibiotic like Nuflor.
Despite intensive
efforts, treatment may have little effect on the course or
severity of the disease. Pink eye is similar to Sore Mouth) in that the disease is usually
self-limiting and the majority of affected animals will
clear up without treatment, usually in a week to 10 days.
Severely affected animals may take longer to recover.
Recovered animals have resistance for varying lengths of
time. It is possible for them to become reinfected, as
acquired immunity is not strong or long-lasting.
