Neonatal diarrhea in llamas and alpacas

Diarrhea is an important cause of morbidity in neonatal llamas and alpacas. Diarrhea may be multifactorial in etiology including management and nutritional factors as well as a variety of pathogens. Most of the pathogens involved affect other livestock species and some have host-adapted strains. However, the clinical signs, their expected severity and age of onset of disease varies between species in some cases. The most common pathogens causing diarrhea in neonatal camelids are coronavirus, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp. and coccidia. The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature on neonatal diarrhea in camelids and to present clinical data from 55 cases seen at The Ohio State University.