Progress in Hemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome

HEMORRHAGIC Bowel Syndrome (HBS, also known as (Jejunal Hemorrhage Syndrome, bloody gut, or dead gut) is a newly emerging, highly fatal intestinal disease of adult dairy cows in the United States. HBS is characterized by sudden, progressive, and occasionally massive hemorrhage into the small intestine, with subsequent formation of clots within the intestine that create obstruction. Affected segments almost inevitably die, causing release of toxins into the cow’s bloodstream and abdominal cavity. Successful treatment of HBS is difficult. Occasional, anecdotal reports exist of successful treatment with fluids, laxatives, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, and surgery; however, it appears that such treatment successes are quite rare. With or without treatment, death of affected cattle usually occurs within several hours or 1 to 2 days after the onset of clinical signs. At the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, only about 10 percent of cows affected with HBS have survived. The disease is seen most commonly in adult dairy cows early in lactation. Thus, factors specific to fresh cow management, nutrition, or the physiologic stress of peak lactation could be playing a role in the development of this disease. Occasional cases occur in late lactation or the dry period, and heifers are rarely affected. Although HBS usually occurs as a sporadic disease on most dairies, several cows in a herd may be affected in a relatively short period of time (i.e. “clusters” of cases can occur). Anecdotal reports exist of dairies that struggle with this disease on virtually a continual basis.