Detection of Infectious Agents Causing Neonatal Calf Diarrhea on Two Large Dairy Farms in Yangxin County, Shandong Province, China

Abstract

Neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) is one of the most serious health challenges facing the livestock industry and has caused substantial economic losses due to increased morbidity and mortality rates. The present study investigated the main infectious pathogens causing NCD among cattle in Yangxin County, China. Sixty-nine fecal samples were collected from diarrheic newborn cattle and tested for infectious agents, including bovine rotavirus, bovine coronavirus, Escherichia coli K99, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Giardia lamblia, that cause NCD, as determined by rapid kit analysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The PCR results showed that the percentages of samples that were positive for C. parvum, bovine rotavirus A, bovine coronavirus, and G. lamblia were 44.93, 36.23, 17.39, and 13.04%, respectively. The rapid kit analysis results showed that the prevalence of C. parvum, rotavirus, coronavirus, and G. lamblia was 52.17, 31.88, 28.98, and 18.84%, respectively. No E. coli K99 was detected by either method. The total positivity of the samples, as determined by PCR and rapid kit analysis, was 80.00 and 81.16%, respectively. No significant difference between the two methods was observed. The results of this study may help to establish a foundation for future research investigating the epidemiology of NCD in cattle and may facilitate the implementation of measures to control NCD transmission to cattle in Yangxin County, Shandong Province, China.

Diarrheagenic pathogens in calves with diarrhea in Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea, from 2018 to 2021

“…Diarrhea in calves frequently occurs in newborns within the age of 1∼3 months, and several studies on calf diarrhea target less than 3 months of age (Björkman et al, 2003;Alfieri et al, 2006;Monney et al, 2018;Singh et al, 2020;Wei et al, 2021). Likewise, the results of this study showed that the proportion of diarrheic feces collected from calves less than 3 months old was 92.3% (n=2,063) of 2,234 samples with confirmed age.…”

Improving beef calf health: frequency of disease syndromes, uptake of management practices following calving, and potential for antimicrobial use reduction in western Canadian herds

“…The primary etiologic agents for CD in calves of this age are viral with some exceptions where protozoa such as cryptosporidia can be identified ( Ngeleka et al, 2019 ). While more than one type of pathogen is often isolated from these calves, viruses and protozoa were commonly identified ( Berber et al, 2021 , Wei et al 2021 ). Bacteria such as Salmonella sp have been reported, but are much less common ( Gow et al, 2005 , Ngeleka et al, 2019 ).…”

The Antibiotic Treatment of Calf Diarrhea in Four European Countries: A Survey

“…Some people even stated that they use them always, and others used them about half of the time. The use of antibiotics to treat NCD might not be necessary: most cases of NCD are caused by viral and parasitic pathogens, with E. coli K99 being the third most prevalent infectious agent in NCD worldwide [ 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Therefore, blanket antibiotic treatment of NCD should be strongly discouraged.…”

“…Antibiotics should only be used in calves suffering from NCD that are also affected by Gram-negative septicemia, mainly caused by E. coli [ 19 , 21 ]. As mentioned previously, studies differentiating infectious agents responsible for NCD show that E. coli only affects a small proportion of calves, making it only the third most prevalent cause of NCD worldwide [ 48 , 49 ]. Aggravatingly, as already mentioned, there is a lack of well design studies to determine the most effective antibiotic treatment for Gram-negative septicemia in calves suffering from NCD.…”