Disease as a constraint on goat production in Lao PDR and trade to neighbouring countries: a review

Abstract

Goat production in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a small but rapidly growing sector owing to strong export demand, primarily from Vietnam. Disease has been identified as one of the major constraints to goat production but there are limited data on causes and effective control strategies. The situation is exacerbated by a lack of veterinary and extension services in rural areas. Information on the major disease and clinical syndromes of goats and their causative agents is needed to develop local and national control strategies and to improve animal welfare. Zoonotic diseases involving goats are also potentially important in terms of live goat trade and public health, albeit research is lacking. This review summarises and evaluates the available published data on caprine diseases in Lao PDR and provides possible disease control strategies to improve goat production in Lao PDR. Surveys and observations suggest that lip and facial dermatitis, eye conditions and diarrhoea are the most common clinical syndromes affecting the health of Lao goats. These clinical syndromes can be considered as priorities for Lao goats. Serological surveys conducted in limited geographical areas of the country have identified moderate seroprevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and low seroprevalence of bluetongue, peste des petits ruminants (PPR), brucellosis and Q fever in goats. Accordingly, the clinical signs associated with the latter diseases were not commonly reported. Trichostrongylus spp., Haemonchus contortus and coccidia are the main gastro-intestinal parasites identified among Lao goats. Despite these studies, an understanding of the causation of the most common clinical syndromes in Lao goats is still lacking, similar to the situation in many other parts of Southeast Asia. Studies to determine the causation of common clinical syndromes need to be conducted in Lao goats if progress is to be made on overcoming the disease constraint. Similarly, studies are also needed to evaluate interventions that have been introduced to limit the impact of these disease and clinical syndromes. They will likely require changes to goat management and nutrition, in addition to disease-specific interventions.