[Jacob-list] sore mouth

[Christopher Brantley]

Sore mouth typically is a herpes virus and can be transmitted to humans. Always wear gloves and wash up after handeling the infected animal. There is no cure, the vaccine is live and specific to one strain of the virus. I had a huge problem with sore mouth when I first put sheep on the pasture... my problem was the deer population in my area being a resevoir for the virus. It looks a lot worse than it is according to my vet and no really good treatment other than comfort.
   
  As is typical with most treatments to bring comfort... the comfort follows more pain. The recommendations I recieved from a vast array of folks was to pour literine over the mouth, lips and into the mouth of the sheep in question. It did help dry the blisters in, and after the third treatment I was too deaf to notice the screeching bleats during the treatment!
   
  My bigggest concern with the virus would be a nursing lamb as the virus could also cause ulcers on the momma ewe's teats. Not sure of the best way to handle that... I'm suposed to be meeting with someone this afternoon that may have some input on that thought. If she does, I'll let you know.
   
  Good Luck!
   
  -Christopher

Mary Hansson <buffgeese at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Hi,

We wound up with a case of sore mouth here a number of
years back from a shearer's tarp. Every spring, the
lambs would come down with scabs around lips and
nose---some with LOTS of them, and others with very
few. Seems like it would happen about 4 weeks of age
or so and be over within 2-3 weeks. I had 1 ewe get
sores also on her teats from the lambs the first year
but know of no others that had any udder problems.

Vet cautioned against using the sore mouth vaccine. 
1. It is a live vaccine. 2. the organism is one
that is fully communicable from sheep to human
(similar in many ways to the herpes virus I believe). 
3. There are LOTS of variants of sore mouth, and the
type you get on your place is very likely NOT the type
in the vaccination----so you will then have 2 types of
sore mouth for your sheep and you to avoid. 4. The
organism has been known to live for well over a
decade, not being destroyed by fire, chlorine, etc. 
In short, it is a pesky bugger that won't go away.

Last year, I raised my lambs on another area of land
completely separate from where any former lambs had
been. Not a single one came down with the virus, and
the month-old lambs out here now don't have a single
sore on their mouths as of yesterday. They are also
in this "other" area.

MEH---who is learning a lot about nursing injured ewes
post dog attack.

Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN
ISeeSpots Farm
Jacob Sheep: Lambs, adults, wool
www.iseespots.com
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