FieldDxEnterotoxaemiaClinical signs, differential diagnosis, treatment and prevention in cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and horses.
Overview
A rapidly fatal toxemia of sheep and other ruminants, often with no premonitory signs. Toxins (chiefly epsilon toxin from type D) produced by Clostridium perfringens proliferating after a sudden shift to rich feed. Marked emergency in FieldDx. Zoonotic: this condition can pass to people.
Clinical signs
- Sudden death in the best-conditioned lambs is often the first sign noticed.
- Excitement, incoordination, seizures, opisthotonos, circling, pushing the head against fixed objects.
- In goats, diarrhoea is often prominent — this is not typical of the disease in sheep.
Predisposing factors
- Type D: lambs rapidly switched to high-grain feedlot diets, or on lush green pasture.
- Type D in unweaned lambs is largely restricted to single lambs of ewes producing plenty of milk — twin lambs on less milk each are less often affected.
- Types B and C: young lambs, calves, pigs and foals; type C also affects adult cattle, sheep and goats.
Look-alikes to rule out
Treatment
Hyperimmune serum (antitoxin) and oral antimicrobials — effectiveness is limited once signs appear.
Prevention
1. Vaccinate the pregnant ewe/doe in the last third of pregnancy: two doses one month apart initially, then annually. 2. Avoid rapid diet changes onto high-grain feed.
Source
MSD Veterinary Manual — Enterotoxemias in Animals (accessed 2026-08-10)
MSD Veterinary Manual — Enterotoxemias in Animals (accessed 2026-10-29)
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