Comparing Occurrence of Bovine Respiratory Pathogens Detected by High-Throughput Real-Time PCR in Nasal Swabs and Non-Endoscopic Bronchoalveolar Lavage Samples from Dairy and Veal Calves

This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the agreement between two sampling methods for the detection of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) pathogens in calves using high-throughput real-time qPCR (ht-RT-qPCR). In total, 233 paired nasal swab (NS) and non-endoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (nBAL) samples were collected from 152 calves from 12 Danish cattle herds. In 202 of the observations, the calves were examined using a standardized clinical protocol. Samples were tested for three viruses (bovine respiratory syncytial virus, bovine corona virus, and influenza D virus) and six bacteria (Histophilus somni, Mannheimia haemolytica, Mycoplasma bovis, Mycoplasma species, Pasteurella multocida, and Truepurella pyogenes). The results showed age-related differences in disease and pathogen occurrence, with the highest detection rates in calves aged 35 days or older. Poor to moderate agreement was found between the NS and nBAL results. The presence of Mannheimia haemolytica in both NS and nBAL in younger calves and in nBAL in older calves was associated with clinical BRD. There was a potential link between BRD and influenza D virus in older calves, although it was only found in one herd in a small sample size. Overall, NS was a relatively poor predictor of pathogens in the lower respiratory tract. The present study confirms the complexity of pathogen detection in BRD, with marked influences of age and the sampling method on pathogen detection and disease associations.