Actual aspects of treatment and prevention of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis

Abstract

Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis is a bacterial eye disease. The disease is characterized by inflammation of the conjunctiva, corneal ulceration and excessive lacrimation. Although this disease does not lead to the death of animals, its economic importance is enormous, since it leads to a decrease in livestock weight gain and a reduction in dairy productivity. The main etiological role in IBK belongs to Moraxella spp. (including in associations with Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, Proteus). The use of traditional treatment methods, such as the use of antibacterial chemicals, for Moraxella infection may be ineffective due to the factors of resistance and immunity of these bacteria. The development of a vaccine can be expensive and time-consuming, due to the external localization of the infection; it will be difficult to achieve a protective effect. New strategies for the treatment and prevention of bacterial infection open up prospects for the use of bacteriophages. Due to the growing antibiotic resistance of circulating bacterial pathogens and to increase the effectiveness of therapeutic and preventive measures in IBK, the development of phage therapy is relevant. Fundamental studies of biological properties and exploratory studies of virulent active bacteriophages to zoopathogenic Moraxelles are an urgent problem.