Infectious agents associated with diarrhoea of calves in the canton of Tilarán, Costa Rica

Abstract

A case-control study of calves under 3 months of age was carried out by weekly visits to 15 farms in the canton of Tilarán, Costa Rica. Most farms were dedicated to beef or dual-purpose (DP) production. Faecal samples were collected over a 6-month period from a total of 194 calves with clinical signs and from 186 animals without clinical signs of diarrhoea as assessed by a scoring system. The samples were investigated for the presence of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Torovirus was detected for the first time in Costa Rica and was present in 14% of calves with diarrhoea and in 6% of the controls. Coronavirus and Rotavirus were less frequently encountered in either one of the groups (in 9 and 7% of scouring calves and in 1 and 2% of controls, respectively). Escherichia coli was detected in 94% of all the faecal samples, but isolates from only three samples from calves with diarrhoea contained the K99 antigen. Similarly, Salmonella was found only in scouring calves. Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in animals with signs of diarrhoea, while other coccidia oocysts, Strongylida and Strongyloides eggs were frequently found in animals both with and without diarrhoea. A conditional logistic regression (CLR) analysis to compare healthy and scouring calves showed a significant difference with regard to the presence of Torovirus, Rotavirus and Coronavirus.

In vitro and in vivo Antibacterial Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Leaves against Escherichia coli in Experimentally Infected Rats

“…Locally Al-khayyat et al (1977), noticed after study included 100 fecal specimens collected from animals suffering diarrhea from different areas of Baghdad, E. coli was isolated from 68 specimens. The highest infection rate with E. coli was recorded by Perez et al, (1998) in Costa Rica, it's was 94% from calves suffering diarrhea. Colibacillosis, associated with E. coli, occurs in all species of new born farms animals and it is a major cause of economic loss in this age and it cause diarrhea particularly in calves less than 30 days of age (Rodostitis et al, 2007).…”

Risk factors for diarrhea in a cohort of dairy heifer calves reared in individual outdoor hutches in Piraí, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…However, Pimenta-Oliveira et al (2011) reported no influence of this fertilization technique, on the health status and performance of Brahman calves, which exhibited weaning weights similar to those of animals, produced using artificial insemination (AI). Nevertheless, the gestation period and the birth weight differed between calves born by IVP and those born by AI.…”

“…Although failure to transfer passive immunity is considered a risk factor for calf health by some authors (FURMAN-FRATCZAK et al, 2011;SVENSSON et al, 2003;WINDEYER et al, 2014), there are others controversial research findings (PIMENTA-OLIVEIRA et al, 2011;SIVULA et al, 1996).…”

“…There are several cross-sectional studies on the occurrence of diarrhea and Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Eimeria and helminthic infections in cattle (BARTELS et al, 2010;BARWICK et al, 2003;GEURDEN et al, 2012;JIMÉNEZ et al, 2010;MUHID et al, 2012;PÉREZ et al, 1998). As well as studies on the risk factors for protozoan infection; these studies identified diarrhea as a consequence of all these infections (GARBER et al, 1994;MALDONADO-CAMARGO et al, 1998;MOHAMMED et al, 1999).…”

Torovirus detection in faecal specimens of calves and pigs in Hungary: Short communication

“…The aetiological role of BoTV has been associated with diarrhoea in calves (Liebler et al, 1992;Duckmanton et al, 1998;Perez et al, 1998), usually under 60 days of age (Duckmanton et al, 1998). Two serotypes of BoTV are distinguished on the basis of haemagglutination inhibition, ELISA and immunoelectron microscopy tests (Woode et al, 1985).…”