Nairobi sheep disease is an infectious, zoonotic, tick-borne viral disease which affects goats, humans and sheep. It is caused by Nairobi sheep disease virus (NSDV), which is a single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Nairovirus of the family Bunyaviridae.
Nairobi sheep disease was first documented in 1910 in Africa. It is closely related to Ganjam virus in India, which it is thought to be a variant of.
The disease begins with a fever of 104°F to 106.7°F (40°C to 41.5°C) accompanied by loss of appetite, depression, and a variable mucous nasal discharge that may become blood-tinged. It follows with profuse, watery, diarrhea that may progress to a bloody dysentery with straining or even some colicky signs. Depending on the severity of the disease, affected animals may die during the febrile stage before the onset of diarrhea or after one to six days of diarrhea, or they may gradually recover. Animals that recover maintain a lifelong immunity against reinfection.
