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Ovine Johne's disease in sheep

Animal Health Disease Surveillance and Control

Johne's disease is a serious wasting disease that affects mainly sheep and to a lesser extent goats. It is caused by the sheep strain of the bacteria Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. The bacteria affect the intestines, preventing absorption of nutrients and are shed in the faeces.

Young sheep are particularly susceptible to becoming infected when they are in contact with infected faeces on teats, pasture or water.

The OJD bacteria can survive for up to 12 months on shaded pasture or for up to 24 months in water. Sheep infected by the OJD bacteria may take 3-6 years to show signs of the infection and then may lose condtion and die over a 6-12 week period. Scouring may be seen.

OJD Management Plan

The national sheep industry has an OJD Management Plan, which pays for inspections in abattoirs around Australia. This inspection is to estimate the prevalence of OJD and the risk of sheep in the three OJD Prevalence Areas (Low, Medium and High) being infected. WA is a now a Medium Prevalence Area. The estimate of prevalence of infected flocks in WA is less than 5%. Area prevalence is reviewed nationally every two years.

Owners of flocks identified as infected at the abattoir are advised by the Department of Agriculture and Food and encouraged to contact their private veterinarian or farm consultant to develop a property disease management plan to manage the disease.

There is no regulatory control of OJD-infected flocks in Western Australia.

Vaccination

Vaccination for OJD will reduce the number of sheep showing signs of infection by 90%. It also reduces the number of sheep that shed the infection in their faeces.

Movement of sheep

The National Sheep Health Statement (NSHS) is required to accompany consignments of sheep being moved to eastern Australia. Directions as to how to complete the NSHS are provided. Currently WA sheep have 2 ABC points for location of the flock as WA is an OJD Medium Prevalence Area. However, sheep in infected or suspect infected flocks have 0 ABC points. For more information about ABC points needed to move sheep interstate from WA, see OJD interstate requirements.

How to gain more OJD ABC points

There are four ways to gain more OJD ABC points: at abattoir inspection; by testing pooled samples of faeces; vaccination as set out in the National Sheep Health Statement; and SheepMAP. See the links below for more information on each of these options.

• How to gain more OJD ABC points
• OJD vaccination information
• Gaining ABC points on the NSHS

The following information has been prepared to assist sheep owners to manage the risks of introducing OJD or managing the disease if their flock is infected.

• Understanding the disease (418KB pdf) Bulletin 4630
• Management options (261KB pdf) Bulletin 4631
• Vaccination (301KB pdf) Bulletin 4632
• SheepMAP- OJD Market Assurance Program (165KB pdf) Bulletin 4633
• Approved veterinarians under the Australian Johne's Disease Market Assurance Program for sheep (SheepMAP)
• Minimise the risk (134KB pdf) Bulletin 4634
• Cattle and ovine Johne's disease: information for cattle buyers
• Ovine Johne's disease: frequently asked questions

More information

For more information about OJD, visit the following websites:

• Animal Health Australia -- www.ojd.com.au
• Meat and Livestock Australia -- www.mla.com.au

For more information about OJD in Western Australia, contact:

• Anna Erickson on +61 8 9881 0211 or
  email anna.erickson@agric.wa.gov.au

Page updated: 6 April 2011