Case studies of juvenile leukosis

Clinical signs, hematologic values and gross pathologic changes in two calves with juvenile leukosis were similar to those described in other reports. Although there was considerable variation of hematologic values between the two calves, both were within the range previously determined for leukosis animals. Hematologic variations were observed in sequential samples obtained from one animal in this study during the course of the disease. These data would indicate that the extreme variations observed between animals in juvenile leukosis hemograms may be the result of aberrations caused by differences in relative sampling times. It is suggested that if hematologic parameters are to be meaningfully used as an aid in the diagnosis of juvenile bovine leukosis, multiple hematologic samplings should be taken and correlated with the disease state of the animal and time before death.