Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Herd-level animal management factors associated with the occurrence of bovine neonatal pancytopenia in calves in a multi-country study.
- Journal:
- PloS one
- Year:
- 2017
- Authors:
- Sauter-Louis, Carola et al.
- Affiliation:
- Clinic for Ruminants with Ambulatory and Herd Health Services at the Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine · Germany
Plain-English summary
Since 2007, a serious bleeding disease called bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP) has been causing young calves to die in several European countries. Researchers looked at farms in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands to find out what management practices might lead to this disease. They found that farms using a specific vaccine called PregSure BVD had a much higher chance of having BNP cases. Additionally, farms that fed calves colostrum (the first milk from their mothers) or pooled colostrum from multiple cows also had increased risks. The study suggests that while these practices are linked to BNP, more research is needed to explore other genetic factors that could also contribute to the disease's occurrence.
Abstract
Since 2007, mortality associated with a previously unreported haemorrhagic disease has been observed in young calves in several European countries. The syndrome, which has been named 'bovine neonatal pancytopenia' (BNP), is characterised by thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia and a panmyelophthisis. A herd-level case-control study was conducted in four BNP affected countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) to identify herd management risk factors for BNP occurrence. Data were collected using structured face-to-face and telephone interviews of farm managers and their local veterinarians. In total, 363 case farms and 887 control farms were included in a matched multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis. Case-control status was strongly associated with the odds of herd level use of the vaccine PregSure® BVD (PregSure, Pfizer Animal Health) (matched adjusted odds ratio (OR) 107.2; 95% CI: 41.0-280.1). This was also the case for the practices of feeding calves colostrum from the calf's own dam (OR 2.0; 95% CI: 1.1-3.4) or feeding pooled colostrum (OR 4.1; 95% CI: 1.9-8.8). Given that the study had relatively high statistical power and represented a variety of cattle production and husbandry systems, it can be concluded with some confidence that no other herd level management factors are competent causes for a sufficient cause of BNP occurrence on herd level. It is suggested that genetic characteristics of the dams and BNP calves should be the focus of further investigations aimed at identifying the currently missing component causes that together with PregSure vaccination and colostrum feeding represent a sufficient cause for occurrence of BNP in calves.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28678850/