Calf Diarrhea Panel

Calf diarrhea causes major economical losses to the beef and dairy industries.  Surveys indicate that 80% of calf morbidity from birth to 21 days is due to diarrhea.  Since multiple infectious agents can be involved in the calf diarrhea, detection of each of those causative agents by traditional methods is laborious, expensive and time-comsuming.  To provide better laboratory service for bovine enteric diseases, ISU-VDL has developed a multiplex real-time PCR test which simultaneously identifies the 5 most common bovine diarrhea agents including bovine coronavirus, bovine rotavirus group A, Salmonella spp, E. coli K99, and Cryptosporidium in a single reaction, reducing turnaround time and testing cost for routine diagnosis.  Decreased turnaround time will facilitate initiation of the most appropriate treatment or intervention earlier in the disease process.  Decreased cost should encourage more testing.

The test can be performed as ante-mortem or post-mortem testing.  The preferred sample is fresh diarrheic feces from acutely affected animals, preferably from calves that have not received an oral therapy or vaccine.  If the calves have been vaccinated, please indicate when the calves were vaccinated and which live or modified-live virus vaccine was used and the approximate time between vaccination and sampling.  A minimum of 5-10 milliliters of feces or intestinal content is recommended.  The samples should be shipped on ice.

The fee is $50 per sample/test.  The expected turnaround time is 1-2 days depending upon the time of sample receiving.