Bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis: model for Pasteurella haemolytica- and Pasteurella multocida-induced pneumonia in cattle.

Pneumonic lesions in calves were induced with Pasteurella haemolytica or P multocida. The inoculum, consisting of a suspension of either organism, was administered by transthoracic intrapulmonic injection to 23 calves. Three died of septicemia; the 20 remaining, killed 96 hours after inoculation, had an expanding unifocal pneumonia qualitatively comparable with that of acute pneumonic pasteurellosis (shipping fever). The concentration of bacteria that consistently produced a lesion was a 5-ml volume containing 10(9) colony-forming units of bacteria; a concentration of 10(6) colony-forming units inconsistently produced lesions. Bacteria, except in calves that developed septicemia and died, remained localized at the injection site. The inflammatory process spread within the lungs, not only through airways, but through the interlobular and interalveolar septa as well.