Comparative clinical efficacy of allopathic,homoeopathic and herbal treatments against foot and mouth disease in buffaloes

This study was made to investigate the comparative efficacy of three therapeutic systems (allopathic,homeopathic phytotherapy) in foot-and-mouth disease (fmd) affected buffaloes (bubalus bubalis) under field conditions in district jhang,pakistan. a total of 60 sick buffaloes were randomly divided into four equal groups named a,b,c and d. all the animals had been suffering from fmd and showing clinical signs for the last 1-2 days on an average. a single injection of remacycline® l.a. (oxytetracycline 200mg/ml,merial international) was administered i/m @ 50 ml /animal of group a along with boroglycerine paint twice a day in the mouth preceded by washing with kmno4 solution (1:5000). in group b,merely a single homoeopathic injection fmt® (hafiz pharma lala musa,gujrat) was given i/m @ 5 ml/animal. in group c,250 ml self-prepared neem (azadirachta indica) leaves' oil was drenched once daily for 3 days besides being anointed in oral cavity twice a day. whereas,animals of group d were administered normal saline @ 5 ml i/m for 3 days keeping it as control group. it was observed that all the animals in group a began to eat fodder after 4 days and mouth wounds become partially healed. milk yield was restored up to 25%. while,in group b all the animals recovered in 1-2 days and started eating normally having completely desiccated mouth wounds along with normal gait. milk production restored up to 75%. in group c,animals started eating fodder in 3 days and mouth lesion had scabs along with complete cessation of drooling of saliva. milk production was reduced to only 25% along with vanishing of limping. in group d,all animals remained unrecovered up to 10 days besides being affected with myiasis at feet lesions and productivity was there up to 10%. in short,it was concluded that homeopathic treatment proved the best of all followed by phytotherapy and allopathy,respectively. furthermore,homeopathic therapy remained the most cost effective (rs.40). thus,neem leaves' oil can be used with confidence as an alternative to both the other treatments against this crippling disease (fmd) in buffaloes.