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This study evaluated the effectiveness of different vaccination protocols against bovine respiratory disease in 149 dairy calves using lung ultrasonography to measure lung lesions. Calves receiving both intranasal and parenteral vaccines showed the lowest levels of lung consolidation and maintained or improved lung health over 52 days, regardless of whether they were healthy or already diseased at vaccination. Control groups without vaccination showed progressive worsening of lung lesions, while intranasal vaccination alone provided intermediate protection.
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that combined vaccination protocols can effectively prevent and reduce lung damage from bovine respiratory disease in dairy calves, even when administered to already-diseased animals. This has significant implications for livestock health management and could reduce economic losses in dairy farming while improving animal welfare.
by Enrico Fiore, Giorgia Taio, Nicola Morandi, Elisa Mazzotta, Matteo Gianesella, Ortensio Bonato, Arnaldo Azzolin, Anastasia Lisuzzo
Vaccination is used to control bovine respiratory disease (BRD). The aim of this study was to evaluate BRD vaccine efficacy through the lung lesions area in dairy calves, also discriminating the lung health status at vaccine administration. One hundred forty-nine dairy calves were enrolled and divided according to vaccine protocol and initial lung condition: healthy (H-CTR; n = 17) and diseased (D-CTR; n = 24) control group; healthy (H-INT; n = 28) and diseased (D-INT; n = 18) intranasal group, healthy (H-VAC; n = 31) and diseased (D-VAC; n = 31) intranasal and parenteral group. Intranasal vaccination was against bovine parainfluenza-3 and respiratory syncytial viruses, while parenteral vaccination was also against Mannheimia haemolytica. Animals were assessed by clinical and ultrasonographical examinations at 10, 17, 38, 52 days; ultrasonography and lung lesion scores (US and LLS), and total consolidation area (TC_A) were greater in CTR with increasing levels over time in both H-CTR (US: 1.45 at 10d vs. 3.8–4.4 thereafter; LLS: 3.5 at 10d vs. 12.4–13.3 thereafter; TC_A: 3.9 cm2 at 10d vs. 9.8–15.4 cm2 thereafter) and D-CTR groups (LLS: 12.1 at 10d vs. 13.0–15.7 thereafter; TC_A: 23.4 cm2 at 10d vs. 34.9–49.4 cm2 thereafter). However, TC_A was maintained in H-INT and reduced in D-INT (22.3 cm2 at 10d vs. 14.3 cm2at 52d). The VAC had the lowest values in US, LLS and TC_A. The H-VAC preserved the initial condition for these parameters, while D-VAC showed a reduction in US (3.8 at 10d vs. 3.0 at 52d) and TC_A (18.4 cm2 at 10d vs. 10.9 cm2 at 52d). In conclusion, the combination of intranasal and parenteral vaccination reduced the progression of lung TC_A severity in both initially healthy and diseased female dairy calves.