A search for new microorganisms in calf pneumonia by the inoculation of gnotobiotic calves.

In a detailed microbiological and pathological study of eight outbreaks of calf pneumonia, which included the inoculation of respiratory material into 18 gnotobiotic calves, a total of five viruses, four species of mycoplasma and 19 species of bacteria were identified. The only microorganism not previously associated with bovine respiratory disease was a coronavirus. The experimental disease produced in the majority of the gnotobiotic calves by the intratracheal inoculation of unpassaged respiratory material, closely resembled the natural disease. However statistical analysis of the results could not ascribe the disease seen to a single microorganism or to a particular combination of microorganisms. Assuming therefore that no microorganisms were missed in the study, it was concluded that the microbiological cause of the experimental disease lay amongst the organisms already found and that one or more of three other factors, discussed in the paper, accounted for the experimental disease produced.