• Originally associated with respiratory disease, particularly bronchopneumonia, in overcrowded conditions in mainly laboratory cats.
• More recently, associated with dyspnoea, cyanosis, pneumonia and death in a pedigree breeding colony.
• Signs of upper respiratory disease have now been seen in specific-pathogen-free cats (known to be free of the respiratory viruses) following both experimental inoculation and natural exposure.

Therefore it appears that B. bronchiseptica can act as both a primary and a secondary pathogen, though its precise role in the cases of respiratory disease in the field has yet to be determined.



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