A review of the expected effects of antimicrobials in bovine respiratory disease treatment and control using outcomes from published randomized clinical trials with negative controls.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains a major disease from an economic and an animal welfare standpoint in beef production systems. Antimicrobial administration is a mainstay in the control of and therapeutic treatment of acute BRD. Judicious use of antimicrobials remains paramount to ensure efficacy of treatment remains acceptable. A systemic review was conducted in the scientific literature, the objective of which was to present a cumulative review of the data from published randomized clinical trials using a negative control in the treatment and control of BRD and using the number needed to treat as a means to effectively convey this information to bovine practitioners.