BRD treatment failure: clinical and pathologic considerations

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Health
• Respiratory Disease Research

Background:

• Clinical signs are traditionally used to assess treatment response in cattle with respiratory disease.
• This method may not accurately reflect the resolution of underlying pneumonia.
• Persistent or recurrent pneumonia can lead to increased disease risk and antibiotic use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the limitations of using clinical signs for evaluating treatment efficacy in cattle.
• To explore the benefits of incorporating lung ultrasound in assessing respiratory disease.
• To guide the implementation of lung ultrasound for accurate measurement of antibiotic therapy impact.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on current practices for assessing bovine respiratory disease.
• Analysis of studies comparing clinical signs with diagnostic imaging (lung ultrasound).
• Discussion of the diagnostic capabilities of calf lung ultrasound for pneumonia.

Main Results:

• Improved clinical signs do not always correlate with the resolution of pneumonia in treated cattle.
• Lung ultrasound can detect subclinical or persistent pneumonia missed by clinical evaluation.
• This discrepancy highlights potential underestimation of disease severity and treatment failure.

Conclusions:

• Relying solely on clinical signs can lead to inaccurate assessments of treatment efficacy in cattle respiratory disease.
• Lung ultrasound offers a more objective and sensitive method for evaluating pneumonia.
• Integrating lung ultrasound can improve treatment strategies and reduce future antibiotic use in cattle.