CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS TYPES C & D ANTITOXIN

Colorado Serum
Clostridium perfringens Types C & D Antitoxin

Active Ingredient(s): Prepared from the blood of horses hyperimmunized with Clostridium perfringens types C and D toxin.
Contains phenol and thimerosal as preservatives.
Indications: A potent multivalent antitoxin specific for the temporary prevention of clostridial enterotoxemia in cattle, sheep and goats caused by types C and D toxin and in swine when caused by type C.
Dosage and Administration: Injections should be made as soon as possible after birth.
CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS TYPES C & D ANTITOXIN, EQUINE ORIGIN confers a prompt passive immunity lasting about 14-21 days. Administer subcutaneously using aseptic methods. The following doses are recommended:

Suckling lambs, goats and pigs 5 mL

Use the entire contents when the bottle is first opened. Sterilize needles and syringes by boiling in clean water. Caution(s): Anaphylactic reactions sometimes follow the use of products of this nature. The risk of this reaction increases when injections are intravenous. If noted, administer epinephrine or an equivalent drug. Antihistamines injected prior to or simultaneously with intravenous administration may reduce the incidence of shock.

Warning(s): Do not vaccinate within 21 days before slaughter. If the antitoxin must be used under emergency conditions, the animals treated should be withheld from market for 21 days after injection. Discussion: Type C, sometimes called hemorrhagic enterotoxemia, occurs most often in calves and in swine; type D, occasionally referred to as pulpy kidney disease, most often occurs in sheep and goats. Affected young animals are commonly suckling dams that are heavy milk producers. Because both types of toxin have been identified as the cause of problems in all four species of animals and clinical diagnosis is difficult, more reliable protection is ensured by injection of a multivalent antitoxin.
The essentials for activating Clostridium perfringens, rich ingesta and bowel stasis, are likely to be present when animals are on feedlot rations, and digestive problems arise because of excessive grain concentrates. It is for this reason that the infection is also called “overeating” disease. When the disease appears in feeder livestock, the prompt use of antitoxin can often mean the difference between the success of treatment and failure.
Antitoxins contain antibodies formed as a result of hyperimmunization with a specific toxin and which are capable of neutralizing that toxin. An almost immediate response is provided at the time of injection. Antitoxins do not actively stimulate the antibody system of the vaccinated animal and the resulting immunity is passive, lasting only until the injected antibodies are eliminated from the system, a period of approximately 14-21 days.
Clostridium perfringens is a micro-organism that normally exists in the lower intestinal tract of most domestic animals and which lives on decaying organic matter. It is opportunistic and when triggered by proper circumstances becomes highly toxigenic. Fatal intoxication causing a hemorrhagic enteritis and peritonitis follows. Lethal toxins can be grown in nutritive media in the laboratory in just a few hours. As feeds rich in protein and carbohydrates are ingested a suitable medium for the development of the organism is provided in the animals. Progress of the disease is, therefore, almost as rapid as the growth of the organism in the laboratory. Deaths frequently occur without symptoms ever being observed.

 Presentation: 50 mL and 250 mL vials
 

Our Concerns with the Recommendation

• Vaccinate every 10-14 days until kid is 3 months old.
  To follow this recommendation to the letter, the breeder would have to know the exact date of birth for every animal. That is normally not a problem for most breeders however, goat farmers raising commercial animals may have hundreds of animals kidding on their own. South African breeders told us that they may not see their animals for 2-3 weeks. Even if the breeder has a smaller herd of around 50 breeding does and the breeder knows exactly the date of birth for every kid, that would still cause major problems. 50 does would normally have around 100-150 kids born on many different dates. To vaccinate each animal every 10-14 days would require good book keeping to track every kid from different DOBs and would require the breeder to be vaccinating almost every day to stay within the 10-14 day recommendation.
  
  If the breeder were to decide to select 12 days as the average time for vaccinating, that would mean the breeder would have to vaccinate each animal 7.5 times during a 3 month period. If they have between 100-150 kids, that would be 750 - 1125 vaccinations to give. If the does kidding were spread across three months and vaccinations were given every 12 days, that would require 15 days for vaccinating.
• Manufacturer recommends 14-21 Days.
  This is a significant difference between 10-14 days and 14-21 days. Some manufacturers state the vaccination is good for a minimum of 3 weeks. If you take the average of 17 days, that would require only 10 days of vaccinations compared to 15 days. To make it easier to manage, you could decide to vaccinate on the 1st and 15th of each month and that would be much easier to manage. The second advantage is related to the manufacturer's statement to utilize all of the vaccine in the bottle once the first dose is taken out. There could be significant waste if you are vaccinating every 10-14 days and the DOBs were widely spread out. The vaccine comes in either 50 ml or 250 ml. To fully utilize the vaccine in the bottle, you would have to be either vaccinating 10 or 50 animals each time. By selecting two standard dates each month, there is less chance of wasting vaccine.
• Overeater Disease likely to be present when animals on feedlot rations.
  The manufacturer stated the Overeater Disease is normally activated when animals are eating excessive grain concentrate. Newborn kids normally don't start eating grain until they are around 6 weeks old. If you are vaccinating every 12 days to stay within the 10-14 day recommendation and the kids don't start eating grain until they are around 6 weeks old, you have vaccinated them 3.5 times when there was really no reason. That is more labor and cost for vaccine.

Our Process and Reasons Why

Our process is focused on vaccinating every doe 4-6 weeks with the long range protection prior to their kidding. Then give the doe a booster 2 weeks later. This causes the maximum amount of antibodies to become present in the colostrum. When this occurs, we have been told the mother's immunity will be passed to the kids when they are born and help protect them until they are 3 months old and they can then be given their own long range vaccine. The short term vaccine is an Antitoxen and the long term vaccine is a Toxiod. The Antitoxen only protects until it is out of the body. The Toxiod produces immunity for the body that will last for a year but cannot be given to an animal until they are at least 3 months old.

We have a monthly management program where we check each animal for their worm condition and give any needed vaccinations. Since we do individual breeding, we know exactly when does were bred and know when their kidding window will be. So we can vaccinate the mother a few weeks prior to her kidding. That means we don't have to worry about whether to vaccinate the new kids every 10-14 or 14-21 days because they are only vaccinated when they reach 3 months old. This requires less labor time for us and significantly less cost for vaccine. We believe that it is critical that breeders look for management processes that minimize their own labor and reduce costs that may not be required.

These are just our thoughts and we may be completely wrong about our thoughts. We welcome comments.