Bovine Respiratory Disease: Is there a difference in found pathogens between calves with clinical disease and calves without clinical disease at the same farm?

Abstract

Because a part of the most common pathogens are also found in calves without clinical signs of BRD, the question arises if we can find a specific pathogen in the lungs of the calves with BRD that we don’t find in the lungs of healthy calves. This is important to know for the prevention and treatment for calves with BRD, especially in the framework of less antibiotic use in the feedlot industry. The purpose of this research is to see if there is a difference between the pathogens found in the lungs of veal calves with and without clinical BRD within a farm, to see if the supposed classification of primary and secondary pathogens can be confirmed and to see if the lungs of the sick calves contain more different or other pathogens than the lungs of the healthy calves.