Prevalence and pathology of staphylococcal pneumonia in dairy calves of Himachal Pradesh Singh Rahul, Patil Rajendra Damu*, Priyanka, Verma Abhishek, Kumar Rakesh, Asrani Rajesh Kumar, Gupta Vipan Kumar Department of Veterinary Pathology, Dr G.C. Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh-176 062, India *Address for Correspondence Rajendra Damu Patil, Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathology, Dr G.C. Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh-176 062, India, E-mail: rdpatil02@gmail.com
Online Published on 2 January, 2024. Abstract Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of mortality in calves, causing heavy economic losses. Generally, the respiratory epithelium is damaged by different viruses that allow opportunistic bacteria to colonise and multiply. In the present study, suppurative pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus spp. was investigated in dairy calves. A total of 32 samples from necropsy cases and 189 samples from live animals which included 121 samples from clinically ill and 68 samples from apparently healthy animals were screened for the bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was found to be most prevalent organism, isolated from 15.87% samples of live animals and 12.50% samples of necropsied calves. The prevalence of Staphylococcus epidermidis was found to be 8.99% in live animals and 9.38% in dead calves. Gross pathology of staphylococcal suppurative bronchopneumonia revealed yellowish-white, raised, multifocal to coalescing, variable-sized abscesses on the cranio-ventral aspects of lungs along with the presence of purulent exudates in the bronchial lumen. Histopathologically, multiple abscesses characterized by a central area of liquefactive necrosis were observed with bacterial colonies and neutrophils and surrounded by zone of inflammation anda fibrous capsule. The present study emphasizes that Staphylococcus spp. is associated with mortality in calves under one year of age due to suppurative bronchopneumonia leading to economic losses to dairy industry in Himachal Pradesh. Top Keywords Calf mortality, Histopathology, Staphylococcusaureus, Staphylococcusepidermidis, suppurative bronchopneumonia. Top |