Merck Unveils New Tool To Detect BRD

The Whisper Veterinary Stethoscope System is a brand new product designed to help farmers and veterinarians in the battle against Bovine Respiratory Disease.  BRD can be a difficult disease to diagnose.  Dr. Jason Nickell, associate director of livestock technology and innovation with Merck, says Whisper is an automated stethoscope designed to capture the sound of an animal’s lungs

“And it generates a number on a scale from one to five , which reflects the magnitude or degree of disease that animal is in at the time it’s brought to the shoot.  So, as that number increases from one to five, the magnitude of disease increases accordingly.”

There is a learning curve to using the stethoscope, but Nickell says it’s not a steep curve.  It will, he notes, take some training to use the product and will need regular maintenance.

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