Acute phase response in bovine coronavirus positive post-weaned calves with diarrhea

Abstract

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is associated with severe diarrhea in calves, winter dysentery in adult cattle, and respiratory diseases in cattle of all ages. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between white blood cell counts and haptoglobin (Hp) and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels in post-weaned calves with diarrhea caused by BCoV and those that recovered from diarrhea. Blood and fecal samples were collected twice from the same animals; 17 post-weaned calves with diarrhea (first) and 15 post-weaned calves that recovered from diarrhea (second). Real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that all 17 fecal samples from post-weaned calves with diarrhea and one out of 15 from diarrhea-recovered calves were positive for BCoV and negative for Cryptosporidium spp., Escherichia coli K99, Salmonella spp., bovine rotavirus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus. No Eimeria oocysts were detected using the flotation method. In comparison with post-weaned calves with diarrhea, in diarrhea-recovered calves, the lymphocyte count was significantly higher (P = 0.018), and the monocyte count was significantly lower (P = 0.001); however, the number of monocytes was still high. Post-weaned calves with diarrhea had a significantly higher Hp concentration (P < 0.001) compared with diarrhea-recovered calves. The results indicated that increased Hp concentration and monocytosis but not SAA may be associated with diarrhea caused by BCoV. The present study suggests that the monitoring of Hp concentration and monocyte count is useful in the diagnosis of post-weaned calves with diarrhea caused by BCoV in this field.

Alteration of the gut microbiota in post-weaned calves following recovery from bovine coronavirus-mediated diarrhea

“… Data from Chae et al with CC-BY [ 13 ]. Fecal appearance - normal (0); semi-solid (1); loose (2); watery (3).…”

“…with clinical examination and PCR can be used to assess the prognosis of post-weaned calves with diarrhea caused by BCoV infection [13].…”

“…These data indicate that values of diagnostic serum physiological parameters of calves with diarrhea vary depending on their causative agents, suggesting that analysis of blood parameters only is inadequate as a method for diagnosing BCoV-mediated diarrhea. Our previous study suggested that monitoring the monocyte count and haptoglobin concentration along with clinical examination and PCR can be used to assess the prognosis of post-weaned calves with diarrhea caused by BCoV infection [ 13 ].…”

“…The experimental samples were obtained from ten female Holstein calves aged between 117 and 138 days with diarrhea for ≥ 3 days. In this study, fecal samples from selected animals were previously tested for the presence of common diarrhea-causing pathogens, such as Escherichia coli K99, Salmonella spp., Cryptosporidium spp., BCoV, bovine rotavirus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus, and as a result, only BCoV was positively detected [ 13 ]. Sampling was performed twice from the same animals before and after 2 months of treatment, once in October 2019 and once in December 2019.…”

Risk factors for morbidity in 1- to 9-day-old dairy calves following caustic paste disbudding

“…Lower STP is associated with greater incidence of morbidity and mortality (Urie et al, 2018;Cortese et al, 2020), as well as ITPI associated with increased diarrhea and pneumonia preweaning (Cuttance et al, 2018). Haptoglobin is commonly evaluated as an indicator of inflammation in cattle (Makimura and Suzuki, 1982), which increases following cautery disbudding procedures (Allen et al, 2013) and is associated with increased risk of diarrhea (Chae et al, 2019). Disbudding, particularly without the use of anesthesia or analgesia, is a painful husbandry procedure and has been identified as a risk factor for overall poor calf welfare on dairy operations (Calderón-Amor and Gallo, 2020).…”