Exploring bacterial pathogens and risk factors associated with the occurrence of navel ill in calves

Abstract

The study mentioned here was designed to investigate both bacterial pathogens and risk factors associated with the occurrence of naval ill in calves. A total of 350 calves diagnosed to have navel ill formed the population in our study. Incidence density reports representing the period between 2009 and 2018 were obtained from Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Bangladesh Agricultural University where information about age, sex, breed, seasonal effect was also included. Umbilical swab from each individual suffering from confirmed navel ill was collected for microbiological study. The occurrence of navel ill in the age of <30 days (n = 244, 69.71%) was noted higher compared to the age of ≥30 days (n = 106, 30.29%). Male calves were highly susceptible (n = 192, 54.86%) compared to females (n=158, 45.14%). In cross breed individuals, the occurrence was higher (n = 330, 94.29%) in regard of indigenous calves (n=20, 5.71%). The occurrence of the illness in summer (March-June) was more common (n = 159, 45.43%) in comparison to both rainy (n = 111, 31.71%) and winter (n = 80, 22.86%) seasons. In term of microbiological study, Staphylococcus aureus , E. coli and Proteus spp. were identified and isolated from the infected areas of the calves with the disease. In conclusion, navel ill occurred more commonly in male calves with the age of less than one month. The appearance of navel ill was noted to be more frequently in summer season (March-June) in cross breed calves. The results also demonstrated that the condition is mediated by mixed bacterial infection formed by gram-positive and gram-negative agents which induce the initial inflammation .