Preconvention Seminar 7: Dairy Herd Problem Investigation Strategies AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF BOVINE PRACTITIONERS

In the last several years, there have been an increasing number of reports of jejunal hemorrhage syndrome (JHS) in dairy cattle. The condition, also known as hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS), bloody gut syndrome, dead gut and enterotoxemia, affects the small intestine, specifically the jejunum, of adult cows, first calf heifers and bulls. The first reports of JHS in the literature come from the early nineties in northeastern US but since that time there have been confirmed cases reported throughout the US and the world. The syndrome appears without warning signs and is frequently fatal. For most farms, the syndrome is sporadic but some experience recurring problems over a period of months or even years. Periods of concentrated problems are often interspersed by intervals free of apparent disease. Although the syndrome targets the jejunum of affected cattle, the most severely affected individuals have more extensive involvement of the small intestine.