Pasteurella haemolytica cytotoxin neutralizing activity in sera from Ontario beef cattle.

A random sample of sera obtained from cattle necropsied as part of the Bruce County Beef Project in 1980-81 was assayed for the ability to neutralize the cytotoxin of Pasteurella haemolytica A1. Cattle dying of fibrinous pneumonia had significantly lower neutralizing activity in serum than cattle which died for reasons other than pneumonia. Activity in pneumonic cattle was also lower than the mean of twelve samples randomly chosen from sera of cattle bled on entry to feedlots in the fall of 1979. A role for the toxin neutralizing response in resistance to pneumonic pasteurellosis is proposed.