%0 Journal Article
%T Ingestion of colostrum from specific cows induces Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP) in some calves
%A Annette Friedrich
%A Mathias B¨šttner
%A G¨šnter Rademacher
%A Wolfgang Klee
%A Bianca K Weber
%A Matthias M¨šller
%A Annette Carlin
%A Aryan Assad
%A Angela Hafner-Marx
%A Carola M Sauter-Louis
%J BMC Veterinary Research
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1746-6148-7-10
%X The objective of the present study was to verify whether ingestion of colostrum from dams of known BNP calves can elicit signs of BNP and typical haematological findings in conveniently selected neonatal calves. Six such calves received one feeding of colostrum (or a mixture of colostrum batches) from dams of known BNP calves. As controls, another six conveniently selected calves from herds which had never had a BNP case received one feeding of colostrum from their own dams. Haematological and clinical parameters were monitored.One of the six experimental calves never showed any haematological, clinical or pathological evidence of BNP. In the other five calves, thrombocyte and leukocyte counts dropped within a few hours following ingestion of colostrum. Of those, three calves developed clinical signs of BNP, their post-mortem examination revealed bone marrow depletion. Of the remaining two calves, a pair of mixed twins, marked thrombocytopenia and recurrent leukocytopenia was evident in one, in which only slight changes in the bone marrow were detected, while in the other thrombocyte counts dropped, but rebounded later, and no bone marrow changes were noted. Thrombocyte counts of the experimental calves were statistically significantly lower than those of the control calves at 2 hours post ingestion of colostrum and at every sampling point between 9 hours and 8 days postcolostral. Leucocyte counts of the experimental calves were statistically significantly lower than those of control calves at 2 hours post ingestion of colostrum and 3-7 days postcolostral.BNP can be induced in some calves by ingestion of colostrum from cows that have given birth to BNP calves.During the 20 years preceding 2006, sporadic cases of unexplained bleeding in cattle of various ages, including, in 1989 and 1991, two calves less than four weeks of age with panmyelophthisis, were admitted to our clinic. Starting in 2006, there has been a remarkable surge in cases of bleeding disorder in young
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1746-6148/7/10