Quality of the colostrum in relation to neonatal diarrhea due to enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in calves
Geene, J.J.
Tijdschrift Voor Diergeneeskunde 110(9): 345-355
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0040-7453 PMID: 3892772 Document Number: 248732
Of 107 calves studied, forty-one animals (38 per cent) showed diarrhoea during the first week of life of life; only one of the forty-one calves showing diarrhoea died. E. coli K99+ was isolated from twelve calves. Serological studies showed that the concentrations of IgG1 and IgG2 on the first and second days of life were almost equally high in calves with and those without diarrhoea. The differences were more marked as regards the concentrations of IgA and IgM. The Ig fractions of the colostrum immediately after parturition (t = 0), which was supplied to the calves (later, with and without diarrhoea) did not differ; the concentrations of IgG1 and IgM in the colostrum within 24 hours after parturition were significantly lower in those dams, the calves of which subsequently showed diarrhoea. The above results are discussed in greater detail in the comment.