Observations on outbreaks of respiratory disease in housed calves--(2) Pathological and microbiological findings

Extensive pneumonic lesions were present in 42 out of 43 calves obtained for post mortem examination from 34 outbreaks of respiratory disease in Northern Ireland. Bronchiolitis and alveolitis with necrosis of bronchiolar mucosa which progressed to bronchiolitis obliterans and peribronchiolar fibrosis were prominent histopathological features in the lungs of calves obtained live. The majority of calves which died within the first two months of these outbreaks had severe exudative bronchopneumonia with marked vascular damage and necrosis of pulmonary parenchyma. Pasteurella spp, Mycoplasma spp and P13 virus were the organisms most frequently recovered from the pneumonic lungs.