No abstract

Summary Diagnostic findings in 218 aborted bovine foetuses are reported. The materials were examined in a matched case‐control study of 69 Danish dairy herds with a sudden increase in the number of abortions and a corresponding 69 control herds. Foetuses aborted during the subsequent 6‐month period were examined to identify the cause of abortion if possible. A total of 186 specimens were submitted from case herds and 32 from control herds. A likely cause of abortion was diagnosed in 73 foetuses. The most common cause was bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV: 13%) followed by Neospora caninum infection (10%), mycosis (5%) and Bacillus licheniformis infection (4%). Foetal and/or placental lesions were found in a further 27 cases. Only BVDV infection and neosporosis were diagnosed in more than one foetus per herd and only protozoal associated abortions occurred significantly more frequently in the case, rather than in the control, herds.

False-positive serological reactions (FPSR) due to infections with Yersinia enterocolitica serotype Oratio9 (YeOratio9) are a problem in tests for brucellosis. In the present study, FPSR in classical and novel tests for brucellosis following experimental infections of pigs with YeOratio9 were compared with responses of B. suis biovar 2-inoculated pigs. FPSR were limited to 2-9 weeks post-YeOratio9 inoculation, while B. suis-infected pigs were test-positive throughout the 21-week period of investigation. Although YeOratio9-inoculated pigs exhibited FPSR in Brucella tests for a limited period of time, the serological responses in a YeOratio9-purified O-antigen indirect ELISA did not decrease accordingly. Analysis of available cross-sectional serum samples from pig herds naturally infected with YeOratio9 or B. suis biovar 2 confirmed that the observed difference in the duration of the serological responses between the two infections could be used to discriminate between herds infected with B. suis biovar 2 and YeOratio9.

The occurrence of two markers, a newly identified 40-kDa protein (p40) and the insertion sequence IS901-IS902, in strains of Mycobacterium avium subspp. was evaluated. Analysis of 184 type and field strains of the M. avium complex from human, animal, and environmental sources by PCR specific to IS901 and by a monoclonal antibody specific to p40 demonstrated the presence of the two molecular markers in all of the M. avium subsp. silvaticum strains examined and also in a number of M. avium subsp. avium strains (the latter isolated mainly from pigs). The appearance of the two markers was completely concurrent in all strains. Further, the marker-positive M. avium subsp. avium strains were mainly serotype 2, whereas M. avium complex strains of serotypes 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 were marker negative. The M. avium subsp. avium type strain ATCC 25291 and approximately 50% of the M. avium subsp. avium field strains isolated from animals contained the markers, while only one strain of human origin was found to be marker positive. Therefore, IS901 and p40 appear to have substantial potential to differentiate among isolates of the M. avium complex. This observation raises new issues regarding classification of strains, since the presence of the markers was found to be inconsistent with the present taxonomic grouping of M. avium subspp.

Danish isolates of Mycobacterium avium complex were serotyped by the use of seroagglutination. The most prevalent serovars among patients with AIDS (n = 89) were 4 and 6, while among non-AIDS patients the most prevalent serovars were 1, 6, and 4, with no major differences between those in patients with pulmonary disease (n = 65) and those in patients with lymph node infection (n = 58). The results suggest a Scandinavian distribution of serovars with a predominance of serovar 6 and fail to demonstrate any selective protection against different serovars by Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccination.