A literature review of antimicrobial resistance in Pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease

Abstract The objective of this paper was to perform a critical review of the literature as it pertains to the current status of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in beef cattle and to provide a concise yet informative narrative on the most relevant publications available. As such, the scientific literature contained in PubMed, AGRICOLA, and CAB were searched in February of 2014 for articles related to susceptibility testing of Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida , and Histophilus somni from cases of BRD. Titles and abstracts were read and 105 articles that were relevant to the subject of BRD antibiotic resistance were attained for further review. After the application of exclusion criterion (publications must have originated from North America, be in English, adhere to standards set forth by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, and be concerning antimicrobial resistance in BRD in beef cattle), 16 articles remained and are the focus of this publication. Due to the disparate data from the few studies that investigate susceptibility testing of BRD pathogens, a quantitative assessment or meta-analysis was not performed on the studies presented in this review. However, considering diagnostic lab data, there appears to be a clear trend of a decrease in susceptibility of the three major BRD pathogens to the antimicrobials used commonly for treatment and control of BRD. Studies performing sensitivity testing on healthy cattle report much lower resistance, but it remains unclear if this is because of a true lack of resistance mechanisms, or if the isolates do contain quiescent genes for resistance that are only phenotypically expressed following the administration of an antimicrobial for either treatment or control of BRD. Future research to address this question of genotype and phenotypic expression before and after antimicrobial administration will further advance our knowledge in this area.