| Description |
Bovine Besnoitiosis is a skin disease of cattle caused by the protozoan (single-celled) mandatory intracellular parasite Besnoitia besnoiti.
The disease displays a variety of presentations and infected cattle often show little or no obvious clinical signs. Acute phase clinical presentation usually presents with signs such as fever, anorexia, rhinitis, weakness, milk drop, stiffness and abortion.
The more chronic stage starts 1-2 weeks after the onset of the acute stage, and clinical signs include intermittent fever, anorexia and weight loss. Most animals go on to show skin and eye lesions, which include thickening, hardening and folding or wrinkling of the skin especially around the neck, shoulders and rump.
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