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Septicemic pasteurellosis causing peracute death and necrotizing myositis in a beef heifer calf (Bos taurus) in
Douglas Doyle-Baker1, Musangu Ngeleka1, Eugene Janzen1
1Diagnostic Services Unit and Department of Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences (Doyle-Baker, Davies), Department of Production Animal Health (Janzen), University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 11877 85th Street NW, Calgary, Alberta T3R 1J3; Prairie Diagnostic Services and Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4 (Ngeleka); United States Department of Agriculture, National Animal Disease Center, 1920 Dayton Avenue, Ames, Iowa, USA 50010 (Briggs).
Abstract:
Septicemic pasteurellosis is an acute and fatal bacterial disease of cattle and wild ungulates caused by certain serotypes of Pasteurella multocida. Here we report a single case of septicemic pasteurellosis in a 6-month-old, Red Angus heifer from a cow-calf operation in Alberta, Canada. Postmortem examination revealed necrotizing and hemorrhagic myositis, fibrinous pericarditis and multisystemic bacterial emboli. Pasteurella multocida was isolated from muscle in pure culture, and the capsular antigen group was identified as serogroup B using polymerase chain reaction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of septicemic pasteurellosis in beef cattle in Canada. Key clinical message: Veterinary practitioners and diagnosticians should include septicemic pasteurellosis on their list of differential diagnoses when they encounter similar presentations of peracute death and severe necrotizing myositis in cattle in Canada.
