ZIMSEC O Level · Agriculture · Form 3, Form 4
Signs of a healthy animal
Alert, eats and drinks normally, smooth coat, normal temperature, normal droppings, moves with the herd.
Causes of disease
Pathogens (bacteria, viruses, protozoa), parasites, poor nutrition and poisoning.
Important diseases
- Tick-borne: January disease/theileriosis and heartwater; controlled by regular dipping or spraying.
- Foot-and-mouth disease: a viral disease; outbreaks lead to movement restrictions and vaccination.
- Anthrax: bacterial, often fatal; vaccinate; burn or bury carcasses deeply; never eat meat from animals that died suddenly.
- Lumpy skin disease: viral; vaccinate.
Parasites
- External: ticks, lice, mites – control by dipping and spraying.
- Internal: roundworms, tapeworms, liver flukes – control by deworming (drenching) and rotational grazing.
Disease control
Vaccination, quarantine of new or sick animals, dipping, deworming, hygiene, isolation, movement control and reporting notifiable diseases to the veterinary services.
Exam tip: Use the structure: cause → signs → spread → prevention/control for disease questions.
Check yourself
- State three signs of a healthy cow.
- How are tick-borne diseases controlled?
- Why should meat from an animal that died suddenly not be eaten?
Show answers
- Any three: alert, eating and drinking normally, smooth shiny coat, normal dung, normal temperature.
- By regular dipping or spraying to kill ticks.
- It may have died of anthrax, which can infect people.
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