Corynebacterium Pseudotuberculosis Infection in Goats VI.

Abstract

Twelve kids, 5 1/2 months old, were inoculated intravenously with about 1 million colony forming units of a Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis strain isolated from goat. Nine of the animals had antibodies against the organism in the bacterial agglutination test and/or the hemolysis inhibition test before they were inoculated. Four kids developed acute toxemia and died 2–5 days after the inoculation. Three of these animals were negative in both the bacterial agglutination test and the hemolysis inhibition test, while the fourth was positive in the bacterial agglutination test only. Post mortem examination revealed severe icterus, anemia, hemoglobinuria and acute pneumonia with microabscess formation in 3 of the kids that died. Eight animals, all with antibodies against C. pseudotuberculosis, developed acute illness but survived the inoculation. These animals were sacrificed and examined post mortem 1 month after the experimental infection, and abscesses were demonstrated in internal organs in all cases.

It is concluded that intravenous inoculation with C. pseudotuberculosis is not a suitable challenge system to study the prophylactic efficacy of vaccines against caseous lymphadenitis in goats.

Sammendrag

Tolv kje ble 5 1/2 mnd. garnie infisert intravenøst med ca. 1 million kolonidannende enheter av Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Ni av dyrene hadde antistoffer mot C. pseudotuberculosis ved bakterieagglutinasjonstest og/eller antihemolysintest, før de ble eksperimentelt infisert. Fire kje ble akutt syke og døde 2–5 dagar etter at de ble infisert. Tre av disse dyrene var negative både ved bakterieagglutinationstest og antihemolysintest mens det fjerde var positivt ved bakterieagglutinationstest. Det ble påvist uttalt ikterus, anemi, hemoglobinuri og akutt pneumoni med mikroabscessdannelse hos 3 av dyrene. Åtte dyr som alle hadde antistoffer mot C. pseudotuberculosis, fikk akutte symptomer, men overlevde den eksperimentelle infeksjonen. Det ble påvist abscesser i indre organer hos alle disse kjeene ved obduksjon 1 måned etter inokulering.

Det konkluderes med at det er lite hensiktsmessig å benytte intravenøs belastning med C. pseudotuberculosis til å studere effektiviteten til vaksiner mot kaseøs lymfadenitt hos geit.