Characterizing the influence of various antimicrobials used for metaphylaxis against bovine respiratory disease on host transcriptome responses

Abstract

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a multifactorial disease complex resulting from interactions among host immunologi­cal response, environmental conditions and polymicrobial components. Metaphylaxis, or the mass administration of an antimicrobial upon arrival to a stocker or feedlot facility, is the primary method of control for BRD. Our objective was to deter­mine the influence of 6 different antimicrobials used metaphy­lactically on the whole blood host transcriptome in healthy steers upon and following arrival to the feedlot.