Respiratory disease in cattle Flashcards
Pneumonia definition
= inflammation of the lungs
BRD
= bovine respiratory dz
- general term for resp dz in attle
- multifactorial (pathogens, environment, management) and varied pathogen involvement
Shipping fever / transit fever
- occurs in groups of animals post weaning (usually 6m-2y) commonly following transport, mixing groups of animals from different sources or sudden diet change
- the main pathogen associated is M.haemolytic, although others may be involved
- more common in the US
- also more common in beef due to weaning age
- respiratory dz triggered by stress
Husk
- cattle lungworm
- Dictyocaulus viviparus
Impact for dairy heifers
- resp dz most commonly doesn’t cause death but sickness -> takes longer to wean the, stunted growth/reduced growth rates, etc, more added expenses
- cows have rubbish lungs cf horses (1/3rd size of adult horse vs adult cow), tiny airways
- damaged lunged ruins ability to oxygenate air
- oxygen really important for utilisation and getting energy out of the diet
- so efficiency and productivity drops
- don’t grow as well -> longer to get in calf and reduced milk yield
- also don’t survive on farm as long -> 6m shorter than others
Viral causes of respiratory dz in cattle
- IBR (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis)
- PI3
- RSV
- BVDV
- MCF (malignant catarrhal fever
Bacterial causes of respiratory dz in cattle
- Mycoplasma bovis
- Mannheimia haemolytica
- Pasteurella multocida
- TB (Mycobacteria)
- Histophilus somni (more common in North America)
- Truperella progenies (Chronic suppurative pneumonia)
- Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP)
Parasitic causes of respiratory dz in cattle
- Dictyocaulus vivparus
Management causes of respiratory dz in cattle
- stocking density
- ventilation
- colostrum management
Other causes of respiratory dz in cattle
- fog fever
- caudal vena caval thrombosis
- aspiration pneumonia
IBR
= Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis
- Bovine Herpes Virus 1
– alphaherpes virus (several strains of BHV-1, Europe, North America, Africa)
– gammaherpesvirus (rhadinoviruses such as BHV-4, OHV-2)
- highly infectious and contagious
- endemic in the UK: approx 40% of cattle have been exposed
- carry for life, and shed
- URT dz
Epidemiology of IBR
- resp infection spread by aerosol
- direct contact or shared air space for sustained period
- variable incubation period of 10-20d
- latency -> once infected (or vaccinated with live vaccine) the animal remains infected for life
- recrudescence and shedding following periods of stress (calving, movement, illness, corticosteroid use)
Clinical syndrome of IBR (resp dz)
- resp disease most common form
- cattle >6m of age (but can be younger)
- often worse in growing age groups (6-24m)
- mild dz: conjunctivitis, epiphora, mild strain or immunity
- subacute dz: adult cattle - milk drop, pyrexia (40C), nasal discharge, hyperpnoea
- acute dz: growing cattle (e.g. heifers) with marked pyrexia and secondary infection, purulent nasal discharge and conjunctivitis
- worse in growing age groups
Clinical syndromes of IBR (complications)
- peracute dz: very high fever and death in 24h
- secondary bronchopneumonia (due to secondary bacterial infection
- tracheitis and erosions within the trachea, so tracheal auscultation important
- mortality can be 10% in younger animals
Clinical syndromes of IBR (repro signs)
- abortion (often [up to 100d] after resp signs)
- genital lesions (IPV)
- lower conception rates
- can also get bulbous lesions and ulcers on the genitalia
Diagnosis of IBR
- history and CS: history of new animals or groups into the herd, nose to nose contact with other farms, often CS in several animals, compared to MCF: no mouth/nasal lesions or keratitis
- individual animal testing: nasal and conjunctival swab (presence of virus on PCR)
- paired blood samples from acute cases (rising tires on ELISA antibody test)
- dairy herds: bulk milk antibody test to monitor exposure of the herd
- acute outbreak -> test for virus
- paired serology not useful for calves due to maternal antibodies
Tx of IBR
- anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs)
- oral fluid if dehydrated
- most will get over it in a couple of days and milk yield will increase again
Control and eradication of IBR
- do nothing
- vaccinate to control clinical signs: route herd vaccination (live vs attenuated available), conventional or marker vaccine, included in vaccines for other pathogens
- accreditation/eradication (+/- vaccination)
- intranasal vaccine -> protection within 2-4d, lasts ~60d, useful for baby calves as offers local mucosal protection
- parenteral vaccine -> protection within a few weeks, vaccinated adult herd 6-12 monthly depending on manufacturer
IBR accreditation schemes
- different levels of accreditation
- accredited free: 2 qualifying tests and regular monitoring (milk/blood), requires double fencing
- vaccinated monitored free: 2 qualifying tests and regular monitoring (milk/blood), vaccinate with marker vaccine, no requirement for double fencing
- eradication programme: if no. of positive animals is low they may be removed from the herd, if this is not possible the herd can be vaccinated (marker vaccine) and enter the VMF scheme once all positive animals have left the herd
- eradication is hard
- Germany doesn’t have IBR
- benefits of these schemes: export trade, reduced disease, pedigree animals
IBR vaccination
- several available
- mostly ‘marker’ vaccines: differentiate vaccinated vs naturally exposed/infected, useful where attempting to eradicate dz
- live vaccine: rapid protection, esp where given intranasally, some evidence overall more effective, baby calves or in an outbreak
- inactivated vaccine: some evidence reduce shedding in latently infected animals, e.g. in dairy herd with high bulk milk Ab
Other control measures for IBR
- main risk is nose-nose contact
- good biosecurity (double fencing at boundaries)
- bought in stock: ideally avoid, don’t mix animals with others then return to herd, test & quarantine can be effective
RSV
= respiratory syncytial virus
- incubation: 2-5d
- pathology: necrotising bronchiolitis and interstitial pneumonia, whilst emphysematous lesions may develop in caudodorsal lung lobes (looks like bubblewrap)
- species specific
- ubiquitous on farms
- vast majority of cases are mild and recover within 1w
- severe cases: open mouth breathing, reluctance to move
- vaccine: intranasal
- no routine surveillance
- gets worse with stress (around calving, weaning)
PI3
= parainfluenza 3
- highly contagious
- more likely in stressed animals
- infects the ciliated epithelium of the resp tract, alveolar epithelium and macrophages
- signs: lethargy, pyrexia, serous nasal & ocular discharge
- coughing with secondary bacterial infection or if reaches LRT
- if only pathogen present it will be mild, but gets bad with secondary bacterial infection
- predominantly URT (rhinitis & tracheitis)
- can go on to cause bronchointerstitial pneumonia but this is not common
- diagnosis: PCR
MCF
= malignant catarrhal fever
- needs to be on list of differentials for sudden death of adult cow
MCF aetiology
- caused by OvHV-2 which sheep carry without showing clinical dz
- stress may increase viral shedding by sheep, e.g. at shearing or lambing
MCF epidemiology
- in cattle, dz is usually sporadic (outbreaks have been recorded but these are rare)
- tranmission is by aerosol, direct contact, or contaminated feed/water/bedding
- cattle can’t pass MCF to other catle
- major problem for deer and bison industry worldwide