Bacteriological findings in nasal and lower respiratory tract samples of calves with acute respiratory disease

Abstract

Infectious calf pneumonia passes off with high morbidity and is frequent in housed dairy animals in the winter. In Sweden the greatest disease problems occur in the “specialized calfrearing units” for meat production. To these farms about 100,000 calves (> 2 weeks old) are now mediated every year from dairy farms. Viral mycoplasmal and bacterial agents are involved in the complex etiology. From emergency slaughtered animals in Sweden Pasteurella multocida, Pasteurella multocida, Pasteurella hemolytica and Actinomyces pyogenes were the most commonly isolated bacteria. Mycoplasma dispar was the most commonly mycoplasmal species isolated. No investigation has been performed in Sweden over bacteria present in the lower respiratory tract at the acute phase of calf pneumonia.

The aim of the present study was to compare the bacteriological flora in the nasal cavity with that of the lower respiratory tract in diseased animals and in healthy animals.