How to manage pinkeye

Fly season is well underway. It marks the beginning of pinkeye infections to come by mid-summer. Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK, or pinkeye). Pinkeye costs the beef industry an estimated $150 million annually.

Historically, Moraxella bovis was considered the primary IBK pathogen. More recently, mixed cultures of M. bovis, Moraxella bovoculi and Mycoplasma species have been cultured from IBK cases complicating diagnosis, vaccination and treatments.

Source: BEEF, April 7, 2020. Link. The importance of good management practices cannot be overstated. It begins with fly control.

There are many strains of M. bovis and M. bovoculi, and there are several vaccines available. In order to be effective, the vaccine strain and the field strain must be the same or closely related.

INSIGHTS: Articles from AHD sponsor Addison Biological Laboratories provide information about modern pinkeye management < link >. Other resources from Addison Biological Laboratories include:

• New findings with bovine pinkeye < link >
• Pinkeye sample collection instructional video < link > Bruce Addison demonstrates sample collection that facilitates Moraxella sp. Identification to determine if an autogenous vaccine has potential in an individual herd location.