Hypodermosis

Hypodermosis 

a group of chronic cattle diseases caused by the larvae of subcutaneous warble flies of the genus Hypoderma.

The economic damage from hypodermosis is expressed in decrease of milk yield, weight loss of the animal, and depreciation in hide quality. Young stock is most frequently affected. Larvae from ova deposited by the female flies on the hairs of the animals hatch in three to five days. They burrow through the hide and accomplish a complex migration, during which they penetrate the lumen of the spinal canal (H. bovis) or the tissues of the esophagus (H. Lineatum).The larvae molt after reaching the subcutaneous tissue in the animal’s back, arid scirrhi form wherever they localize. There may be as many as 150 or more of these scirrhi on the body of an animal; most are localized in the region of the back and loins. During migration the larvae cause mechanical damage to tissues, which is accompanied by inflammatory phenomena.

For treatment of hypodermosis animals should be treated once, 1-2 months after the end of swarming, with an 8 percent solution of Trichlorofon applied to the skin of the back. For prevention, animals are pastured at night during the swarming period or sprayed every 20-25 days with a 1 percent solution of Trichlorofon.

REFERENCE

Potemkin, V. I. “Gipodermatozy.” In Veterinarnaia entsiklopediia, vol. 2. Moscow, 1969.

V. I. POTEMKIN