Review of infectious diseases in ruminant livestock: Risk factors, impacts, and control strategies

Infectious diseases remain a major challenge in ruminant livestock production because they reduce productivity, cause economic losses, threaten animal welfare, and create public health risks. This review aimed to summarize major infectious diseases affecting cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, with emphasis on risk factors, impacts, and control strategies. The reviewed literature showed that important diseases include foot-and-mouth disease, peste des petits ruminants, bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, bovine mastitis, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, and parasitic infections. Disease transmission is influenced by multiple factors, including animal movement, poor biosecurity, inadequate vaccination, weak surveillance, environmental contamination, wildlife–livestock interaction, and limited access to veterinary services. The impacts of these diseases include mortality, reduced milk yield, reproductive failure, poor growth, treatment costs, trade restrictions, and zoonotic transmission. Effective control requires integrated strategies involving vaccination, quarantine, movement regulation, early diagnosis, surveillance, farm biosecurity, farmer education, antimicrobial stewardship, and One Health collaboration. This review highlights that infectious disease control in ruminants should not rely only on treatment but must prioritize prevention, coordination, and evidence-based management to support livestock productivity, food security, and public health.