Market-stressed Cattle of a Shipping Fever Epizootic in a Texas Feedlot Have a High Infection Rate with Respiratory Bovine Coronaviruses

Abstract

Shipping fever (SF) of cattle results from stressful conditions favoring viral and bacterial infections of respiratory tracts that lead to severe respiratory distress with frequent fatal outcomes. The incidence and spread of respiratory viral infections of cattle developing SF were analyzed by a refined and sensitive virus isolation technology that detects all viruses known to infect bovine respiratory tracts, including respiratory bovine coronaviruses (RBCV) which multiply in highly polarized epitheloid cells such as the G clone of HRT-18 cells in culture.