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A Short Note: A study in determining the correlation between cortisol concentration in vaccinated and non-vaccinated clinically infected pneumonic goats

Jesse, F.F.A. ^{1, 4}, Chung, E.L.T. ^{2, 4}*, Muniandy, K.V. ¹, Tan, A.H.A.R. ¹, Maslamany, D.¹, Lila, M.A.M. ³ and Norsidin, M.J. ¹

¹Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
²Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture,
³Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
⁴Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2018 21(2): 123-128

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In Malaysia, pneumonic pasteurellosis is one of the major problems in the small ruminant industry. Small ruminants especially goats are more susceptible to the disease that usually occurs due to stressful conditions. Cortisol plays an important role in the disease development of pneumonic pasteurellosis. The main objective of this study was to determine the correlation between cortisol concentration in vaccinated and non-vaccinated pneumonic goats. A total of 15 normal goats and 9 clinically infected pneumonic goats were selected from 2 vaccinated farms, whereas 15 normal goats and 31 clinically infected pneumonic goats from 2 non-vaccinated farms were selected for this study. Goats with clinical signs of nasal discharges, coughing with crackle lung sound were diagnosed as pneumonic goats. Blood samples were collected from the selected goats for cortisol evaluation. The study revealed that non-vaccinated clinically infected pneumonic goats exhibited a slightly higher (p>0.05)  cortisol value compared to the other experimental goats. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of plasma cortisol concentration as a measure of stress contributing towards pneumonic pasteurellosis in goats might not be the best way to confirm the influences of the disease.