Epidemiology and clinico-pathological characteristics of current goat pox outbreak in North Vietnam

Abstract Background In view of the current swine fever outbreak and the government aspiration to increase the goat population, a need arises to control and prevent industry decimating outbreaks goat pox. Despite North Vietnam facing sporadic cases of goat pox, this most recent outbreak had the highest recorded morbidity, mortality and case fatality rate. Thus, owing to the fear that such outbreak may recur and become widespread, an analysis of that outbreak was done based on selected signalment, management and disease pattern (signs and pathology) parameters.Results It was found that the susceptible age group were between 3-6 months old kids while higher infection rate occurred in those under the free-range rearing system. The clinical signs and lesions were not restricted to the skin but have extended into the lung and intestine. The pathogen had been confirmed in positive cases via PCR as goat pox with prevalence of almost 80%.Conclusions The current outbreak of goat pox in North Vietnam denotes its significance to the industry and signals the importance of a prompt identification which will lead to an effective control of the disease.