Development of a method for collecting bronchoalveolar lavage from calves for microbiological diagnosis of bronchopneumonia

Abstract

A serious problem for the health of cattle, especially in highly productive animals, is infectious bronchopneumonia, which occurs when exposed to numerous adverse environmental factors and opportunistic microorganisms. Infectious bronchopneumonia is an important problem in the livestock industry and remains a major cause of significant economic losses in dairy herds and feedlots due to high morbidity and mortality rates, in addition to negatively affecting growth, reproductive performance and life expectancy. Therefore, the development of a new method for intravital minimally invasive diagnosis of calves with acute catarrhal bronchopneumonia using bronchoalveolar lavage sampling for subsequent microbiological studies is relevant. The invention relates to veterinary medicine and can be used in intravital diagnostics of bronchopneumonia in calves by isolating microorganisms that initiate the purulent-inflammatory process from samples of bronchoalveolar contents taken in the area of the tracheal bifurcation. A method for intravital diagnosis of bronchopneumonia in calves includes transnasal introduction to a sick animal of a sterile silicone medical tube with a diameter of 4 mm (the internal diameter of the hole is 3 mm), a wall thickness of 1.0 mm and a length of 150 cm, until slight resistance and a repeated cough reflex appear, upon reaching in the area of the tracheal bifurcation, the nasogastric tube is moved back 1 cm, a disposable syringe with a volume of 50 ml is attached to the free end, and with its help, 30-40 ml of sterile isotonic saline solution (0.9% NaCl solution, 37° C) is injected into the trachea, and then immediately aspirate up to 10 ml of bronchoalveolar contents.