PRINCIPAL GOAT  DISEASES
Goats are animals subject to many diseases. These are divided into three groups: -caused by parasites or protozoa (intestinal verminous,                  Coccidiosis....); -caused by bacteria (Brucellosis); -caused by viruses (C.A.E.V.). The Brucellosis is the most dangeurous diseases for man; infact it is trasmitted eating not cooked milk and cheese. Another way for the infection is the contact with a death foetus, when there is an abortion of the animal. The symptoms of this illness are natural abortions in this case also cattle can be infected if it's breed in the same shed. In the man the disease called Malta fever or undulatory fever. It prodeces a sudden thermical rise, followed by periods of apparent normality; for this it is difficult to dyagnose. Today it's curable, but in many cases it leaves conseguences people such as: trembling or nodules. In the territory the control by the Vet Service for the Brucellosis, is made through blood samples from animals that have an age over 6 months. Other sanitary controls of the Vet Service are made on food through the analysis of fedders. Also the sanitary condiction of animal shelters are controlled. At the end there's a control through milk testing that must be free of bacterial. In the cheese production farms the rooms used for processing cheese are controlled. C.A.E.V. (the French name for Caprine Encephalitis Arthritis) is a disease that arrived in our territory in the last years. The diffusion of C.A.E.V. in this area dates back to the '70's, when after a renewed interest in goat breeding, many animals were imported from other neighbouring European contries, in particular from France. Probabily some imported goats were infected by this illness. The Caprine Encephalitis Arthritis is a diseases caused by a virus that produces in infected goats a diminution in the quantity of milk produced and a bone decalcification. It's a virus that can be latent in the animal, in this phase there aren't visible sign of the illness; it can also be clearly. In many case the latent phase passes to diagnosed, but it can also remain in the first phase. Among the goats the infection is pricipally trasmitted through suckling , because the mother's milk produced just after birth made up many antibodies. Infection caused by living togheter in the same shed with ill animal is also possible. In the mid '90's in our area fist experimental programs for defeating the disease was started. Before this project was carried out only in Switzerland and France. Later after some controls it was discovered that in the vet district of Asti all  animals were sick, although they didn't show any  symtom. The program foresees a separation between the babies and the mother, just after birth in order to avoid contagion; then these babies grow and live for all their life in a separating shed. In many case there was another way for the infection caused by the breeder looking after them then  it was planned to create weaning centres: the kid was separated from the mother and given to another breeder that bred it with artificial milk and then grew it with other healthy animals. As for intestinal verminous each breeder cares for his animals once a year. Despite the diffent diseases that can infect a goat, the most frequent case of death is due to birth infection or difficulties. Infact the goat has got a very thin uterus and if a breeder tries to help the animal at the moment of birth he may cause very serious damages.

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