Nasal swabs are routinely used to isolate causative bacteria for diagnosis of respiratory diseases in calves. Contamination by other microorganisims inhabiting the nasal cavity occurs very often and isolation of causative bacteria can be difficult, though nasal swabs are easily done. Therefore, we developed a simple method to get materials for culture of causative bacteria from calves with clinical respiratory diseases. With the trachea kept in a horizontal position, sterile physiological saline is injected in the trachea and sucked out quickly. The retrieved saline is an appropriate material to isolate the causative bacteria, because contamination by other bacteria is extremely low. (Clinical Epidemiology Section, Department of Epidemiology TEL +81-298-38-7798)
