Pulmonary response to intratracheal challenge with Pasteurella haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida

Calves were inoculated intratracheally with 5 X 10(7), 5 X 10(8), or 5 X 10(9) colony forming units of either 18-hour stationary phase cultures or 4-hour log phase cultures of Pasteurella haemolytica. The log phase culture at all concentrations produced more severe clinical signs, hematological changes and pulmonary lesions at postmortem examination than did the corresponding stationary phase culture. More severe effects were seen with the larger doses especially with the log phase culture. Fibrinous bronchopneumonia with focal or multifocal necrosis was consistently produced by both the stationary and log phase cultures. To determine if this lesion was peculiar to P. haemolytica or whether it could be produced generally by rapidly growing Gram negative organisms, a 4-hour log phase culture of Pasteurella multocida was prepared in an identical manner to that used for the culture of P. haemolytica and given to calves intratracheally at the high bacterial dose (5 X 10(9]. The P. haemolytica produced more severe clinical, hematological and morphological changes than did the P. multocida. The lesions observed with P. multocida differed morphologically from those of P. haemolytica; there was a suppurative exudative component and minimal to no necrosis with P. multocida. It appears that an important pathogenic principle is produced by the rapidly growing P. haemolytica that causes it to produce a more severe clinical disease and more necrotizing pulmonary lesions than P. multocida.