Sequential lesions of experimental bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis

A strain of Pasteurella haemolytica biotype A serotype 1, which had been isolated from a pathologically-confirmed outbreak of bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis, was used successfully to reproduce the disease in conventional calves. The development of the various pathological features was studied at regular intervals following infection. The acute inflammatory reaction which had developed by day 2 after initial infection was characterised by flooding of the alveoli by oedema and neutrophils together with a mild degree of bronchiolar epithelial necrosis. This progressed to an acute exudative fibrinous pneumonia with extensive involvement of the interlobular septa and often with pleurisy. Subsequently, these pulmonary lesions became walled off by fibrous tissue which became infiltrated by plasma cells and lymphocytes. At this stage organisms could be demonstrated only within these nodules in the lung tissue.