Malignant catarrhal fever

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) remains a sporadic but economically important disease worldwide. In terms of the OIE, the World organisation for Animal Health's classification of economically important diseases, MCF is regarded as a List B diesease that inter alia has  socio-economic importance within countries, and can be significant in the international trade of animals and animal products.  Another important aspect of the disease is its clinical resemblance to other OIE listed diseases that may complicate the diagnosis for inexperienced or uninformed clinicians, most notably renderpest, food-and-mouth disease, bovine virus diarrhoea virus infextions and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis.  Domestic cattle are more susceptible to the wildebeest-associated form of the disease than the sheep-associated disease, and therefore more common on the African continent where the carriers (reservoir hosts) of alcelaphine herpesvirus type 1, namely blue and black wildebeest have close contact with domestic cattle.  In some areas, demographical changes and changes in farming methods and approaches have been responsible for MCF being viewed as an emerging disease.  This particular livestock-wildlife interface has at times been responsible for strained relations between cattle farmers and land owners involved with exotourism and hunting.  This video aims to provide the latest information on the aetiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical signs, pathology, diagnosis, differential diagnosis and control of MCF.

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