Listeriosis may occur as an economically important disease of ruminants in which the predominant clinical signs are either those of encephalitis, septicaemia or abortion. The encephalitic form is the most common in adult ruminants and is frequently fatal. Different serotypes of Listeria monocytogenes exist but the pathogenesis and epidemiology of infection are poorly understood.Listeriosis is of importance in temperate countries but rare in tropics and subtropics though reported from Africa (Hohne, Loose and Seeliger, 1975). Listeriosis in sheep has been reported from many countries and sporadic reports of listeric infection in calves and chickens have been made in Iraq (Yousif, 1980) but ruminant disease has not been reported. The present work describes the meningo-encephalitic form of ovine and caprine listeriosis occurring in Mosul in Nenveh Province in northern Iraq for the first time.Listeriosis was suspected in a two-year-old non-pregnant ewe of local breed at the College clinic with a history of circling and other nervous derangements. It was reported that three sheep in a flock of 550 sheep and goats had developed circling three days before and one animal had died. Clinical investigation revealed torticollis, tremors, staggering, nystagmus, depression and blindness. The conjunctival mucous membranes were highly congested, temperature 39-8°C, pulse 95/min and respiration 30/min. Haematological examination was inconclusive. The next day there was drooling salivation, nasal discharge and opisthotonous though peripheral reflexes were maintained. After euthanasia necropsy showed only discrete necrotic loci in the liver and congestion of the meninges and spinal cord without visible macroscopic lesions.Pathological and microbiological examinations were carried out on this animal and a further three sheep and four goats all showing nervous signs. Necropsy findings were similar to those described except that gross liver lesions were only observed in one further sheep and one goat. Impression smears and cultures from liver, CSF and brain stem were made for listeria by direct and refrigeration (four days) techniques in nutrient agar, blood agar and nutrient broth; both culture and identification were carried out by the usual methods. All these animals demonstrated micro-abscess formation with perivascular cuffing lymphocytic infiltration on histological examination of brain. Coccobacillary bacteria were observed in the lesions and in one CSF sample and Listeria monocytogenes was recovered from all animals.The sheep and goats with nervous signs had been submitted from two flocks located about 0.5 km apart. Both flocks contained goats and sheep of local breeds which were heavily pregnant or parturient at the time of the outbreak. The animals were maintained under range conditions and fed an imported concentrate mixture. Some animals had been newly introduced into the flock. The weather was very cold and it had rained heavily After the initial diagnosis cases of encephalitis continued to appear in the affected flocks ...
It emerges from bacteriological study that it is possible to isolate many bacterial types and yeasts from the lesions of footrot infection in sheep. Anaerobic cultivation came out with the isolation of Spherophorus spp. (24%), Bacteroides spp. (60%), Corynebacterium spp. (64%), Enterobacteracae (76%), Streptococcus spp. (76%), Staphylococcus spp. (36%), Clostridum sordellii (46%) and Irichosporon cutaneum (4%). On the other hand aerobic cultivation rendered the isolation of Corynebacterium spp. (100%), Entrobacteracae (100%), Staphylococcus spp. (15%), Penicillium spp., Aspergillus fumigatus and Trichosporon cutaneum. Five different drug combinations were studied for their efficacy in the treatment of ovine footrot. Their healing rates were as follows : oxytetracycline (59%), oxytetracyclin with formaline (70.9%), Procaine penicillin and streptomycin (72.5%), Procaine penicillin and streptomycin with formaline dipping (80.76%), Formaline alone (63.8%). All kinds of treatment indicated statistically significant differences to exit between the treated (experimental) and untreated (control) groups
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