Study: Multi-country bovine neonatal pancytopenia
Bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP) first emerged as a novel disease syndrome in 2007; initially in Germany, and soon afterwards in several other European countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Belgium. It affected calves aged less than one month and caused multiple unexplained external and internal haemorrhages, usually leading to death. There were a number of investigations into the possible cause of this new syndrome, but no infectious agents or poisons were found. Some evidence was found of an association between BNP in calves and vaccination of their dams against BVD using PregSure®BVD, (PregSure) manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health, so as a precaution the vaccine was withdrawn from the market in 2010. Reports of BNP were sporadic and incidence was very low, despite the widespread use of this vaccine in many European countries.