Swiss authorities have discovered a cow with the Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), a highly contagious respiratory disease, in the eastern canton of Grisons, local officials said on Wednesday.
Fever, coughing, depression, loss of appetite and nasal discharge are some of the symptoms a cow infected with IBR suffers from.
There’s no treatment for infected cows, they’ll carry the virus with them for the rest of their lives. It stays behind in nerve cells in their brain. In times of stress, which cows suffer a lot from in the meat industry, the virus begins to multiply again, making the cow sick.
There have been no cases of IBR in Switzerland since 1993, officials said.
“In order to determine the possible spread of the disease, it is being clarified which contacts the affected animal had with other animals. All farms with animals that had contact with the affected animal will be blocked as a precautionary measure,” veterinary officials said in a statement.
