Technical noteAbortion in ewes associated with Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
Introduction
Traditionally, Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila abortus and Toxoplasma gondii are considered to be the major causative agents of ovine foetopathies worldwide. Of secondary importance, are Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella abortus-ovis and the Border disease virus; these six pathogens account for around 80% of the cases of abortion in ewes (Menzies and Miller, 1997, Aitken, 2000, Buxton, 2000, Nettleton, 2000, West et al., 2002, Baird and Gonzalez, 2003, Burriel et al., 2004).
Recently however, many reports in the international literature have described other pathogens as causative agents of ovine abortion. In New Zealand, Salmonella bradenburg was isolated from aborting ewes (Marchant et al., 2001); Rousset et al. (2001) in France identified Coxiella burnetii as a causal agent of abortions; Erganis et al. (2002) in Turkey diagnosed abortions in ewes associated with Campylobacter foetus subsp. foetus; Sargison et al. (2001) in Scotland described ovine abortion associated with Escherichia coli; Hassig et al. (2003) in Switzerland described abortion in ewes associated with Neospora caninum. In this paper, we describe an outbreak of ovine abortions in Greece associated with Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae are described.
Section snippets
History
The outbreak occurred on a sheep farm with 170 mixed-age Karagouniko-breed ewes in central Greece. Rams had been introduced into the flock from 1 August to 15 September 2001. Throughout pregnancy, the ewes grazed and received supplementary hay and commercial concentrate feed. In early December, when the outbreak occurred, the body-condition scores of the ewes ranged from 2.0 to 3.0, by using the standard 1–5 scoring system (Menzies, 1997). The standards of environmental hygiene and care of the
Discussion
E. rhusiopathiae is a well-established causal agent of reproductive problems (including abortions) in sows (Henry and Kelly, 1979, Hoffmann and Bilkei, 2002); it had also been associated with abortions in women (Anusz, 1986) and guinea pigs (Okewole et al., 1989). However, Erysipelotrix-associated abortion in sheep, to the authors’ knowledge, has never been reported.
In sheep, this organism has been mainly associated with arthritis: post-dipping lameness in adult sheep (Lamont, 1979, Watkins,
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