Isolation ofSphaerophorus necrophorus from bovine liver abscesses in the Sudan

Abstract

Sphaerophorus necrophorus is often associated with liver abscesses in cattle. Newsom (1938) isolated S. necrophorus from 96 per cent bovine liver abscesses studied in Colorado; 85 per cent of these contained S. necrophorus in pure culture; 13 per cent contained diphtheroids and staphylococci in addition to S. necrophorus and 3 per cent did not contain viable organisms.Simon and Stovell (1971) isolated S. necrophorus from 97 per cent of liver abscesses studied in British Columbia; in 30 per cent it was in association with other bacteria.Experimental inoculation of viable S. necrophorus into the portal vein of cattle was found by Jensen, Flint and Griner (1954) to produce liver abscesses.There is no previous study of bovine hepatic abscesses in the Sudan despite their high incidence in slaughtered animals (Annual Report, 1969, 1970, 1971. The purpose of this study was to determine the organisms regularly associated with liver abscesses of cattle slaughtered in this country. MATERIALS AND METHODSA hundred bovine liver abscesses representing 100 livers were collected from Omdurman Central Abattoir during 1971 and 1972.Abscesses were opened aseptically and pus material was cultured for S. necrophorus in VL broth which was incubated aerobically at 37~ for 48 hours. In cases with heavy contamination, isolation was achieved by surface culture on ethyl violet-azide agar medium of Barnes and Goldberg (1962) in an atmosphere of 10 per cent CO2 in H2. Purification was sometimes effected by subcutaneous inoculation into rabbits or mice followed by isolation from the resulting abscesses in VL broth.Material from each abscess was also streaked on two blood agar plates and one MacConkey agar plate. One blood agar and the MacConkey agar plates were incubated aerobically at 37~ for 48 hours. The other blood agar plate was incubated anaerobically at 37~ for 48 hours.Organisms were identified by conventional bacteriological procedures. Those identified as S. necrophorus were pleomorphic Gram-negative anaerobes which exhibited biochemical reactions similar to those described in the literature. They produced a turbid growth in VL broth with gas and foul odour and the medium clarified with age. They agglutinated human group O and chicken erythrocytes. RESULTSS. necrophorus was isolated from 84 of 100 bovine liver abscesses; 57 of these isolates were pure cultures and 27 were mixed with coagulase-negative staphylococci or diphtheroids. Of the other 16 abscesses, only coagulase-negative staphylococci were present in six and only diphtheroids in seven and no organism was isolated from the remaining three. 253

Isolement de <em>Fusobacterium necrophorum</em> sur un chameau

“…Little work has been done on the aetiological aspect of the disease (4,5,6). In the Sudan, Fusobacterium necrophorum has been suspected to be one of the aetiological agents of "Naieta", in agreement with the work of Hussein and Shigidi in cattle (7).…”

“…This suggests that it could be the causative agent. In Sudan, isolation of F. necrophorum was once reported by Hussein and Shigidi (7) from livers of cattle collected from abattoirs. This could be due to the fact that in routine diagnosis cultures are not incubated anaerobically.…”

Association of Fusobacterium necrophorum with ovine and bovine hepatic abscesses and necrosis

“…It was isolated from 7.4% and15.75 ovine and bovine livers inspected respectively. This seems to be far less than the values given by Hussein and Shigidi (1974) for cattle in the Sudan, and when compared with other reports elsewhere (Simon and Stovell, 1971;Berg and Scanlan, 1982;Newsom, 1938).…”

“…The samples were cultured using eight culture media: Nutrient Agar, Blood Agar, Brain Heart Infusion Agar, Brain Heart Infusion Blood Agar, Brain Heart Infusion Blood Agar Supplemented, Cooked Meat Media, Reinforced Clostredial Media and VL Media. Those cultural media were reconstituted as described by Husein (1973), Hussein and Shigidi (1974) and Shapton and Board (1971). Inoculated media were incubated anaerobically at 37•c for at least 48 hours in a McIntosh Jar (McIntosh and fildes, 1916).…”

Identification of D-mannosamine in lipopolysaccharide derived from a strain of Fusobacterium necrophorum

“…Fusobacterium necrophorum is thought to be a causative pathogen of liver abscess of cattle [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This organism has been shown to contain lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [8][9][10][11][12].…”