A Study on the Relationship between Clinical Course and Serum IL-6 Level in Neonatal Calves with Diarrhoea

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between clinical course and serum IL-6 level in neonatal calves with diarrhea. The study material consisted of 40 calves in the neonatal period. The calves were divided into 4 groups: group I (healthy, control, n=10), group II (with mild diarrhea, n=10), group III (with moderate diarrhea, n=10) and group IV (with severe diarrhea, n=10). The breed, age, sex and clinical findings of the calves were recorded. Etiological analysis was performed on stool samples taken from calves. Haematological analyzes were performed on the blood samples taken and serum IL-6 levels were determined using the ELISA test kit. WBC and NEU numbers of calves with diarrhea in group II, group III and group IV were found to be numerically higher than healthy calves in group I (P˃0.05). Calves in group II (239.76±11.05), group III (293±48.7) and group IV (300±25.06) had higher serum IL-6 levels than calves in group I (211.58±10.07) (P˂ 0.01). While IL-6 levels of group IV were higher than group III (P˃0.05), IL-6 levels of group III and IV were higher than group II (P˂0.01). According to the data obtained from this study, it was concluded that serum IL-6 is an important marker that can be used in the follow-up of the disease in diarrheic neonatal calves.