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By Justin Goulet/LethbridgeNewsNOW

U of L researchers earn support to study viable solutions to mitigate Bovine Respiratory Disease

Aug 10, 2022 | 9:19 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Researchers at the University of Lethbridge’s Southern Alberta Genome Science Centre (SAGSC) and its bioinformatics core are working with scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to find viable solutions to mitigate Bovine Respiratory Disease, also known as BRD.

BRD is the most prominent feedlot cattle disease in North America and officials say it is responsible for an estimated financial burden of $3 billion every year.

The research project is being led by University of Lethbridge associate professor Dr. Athan Zovoilis and Dr. Tim McAllister, a principal research scientist at AAFC.

Zovoilis is the SAGSC director and Canada Research Chair in RNA Bioinformatics and Genomics. Zovoilis, and Drs. Angeliki Pantazi (SAGSC scientific officer) and Eric Merzetti (BioNet program manager), are working with McAllister’s team and other scientists at AAFC to advance a genomic-based diagnostic pipeline for BRD, based on Alberta herd-specific pathogens. It is said that this will increase the precision of antimicrobial use in the provincial cattle industry.

Zovoilis said, “To date, no tool exists for the identification of BRD pathogens on a broad scale for Alberta cattle producers and there is a need for province-wide architecture to detect and characterize pathogens of interest in BRD – both in terms of virulence and antimicrobial resistance.”

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“Our labs at SAGSC and AAFC in Lethbridge have already sequenced, analyzed, and characterized a significant number of BRD bacterial isolates,” Zovoilis stated.

The proper treatment of BRD requires pathogen identification. Adding difficulties is antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is a significant concern in cattle and many of the identified BRD pathogens house resistance to traditional antimicrobial agents used in livestock settings.

Zovoilis said, “We will take input data from samples sequenced by our next generation sequencing platforms and be able to produce detailed information on BRD pathogens, including relevant AMR.”

“This data will then allow for the precision use of antimicrobial agents, providing better outcomes for cattle and less likelihood of AMR development in the present bacteria.”

Alberta is home to more than 18,000 cattle producers with an estimated 4.5 million cattle. That’s about 40.4 per cent of the country’s herd, according to estimates from July 2020. With the highest cattle population in the country, cattle mortalities are a significant economic and financial hardship to the province. BRD is responsible for 65 to 80 per cent of total feedlot morbidities and 45 to 75 per cent of mortalities.

The new research project is supported by a $352,000 Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) grant.