Survey of nine abortifacient infectious agents in aborted bovine fetuses from dairy farms in Beijing, China, by PCR

Abstract

<jats:p>Abortion in dairy cattle causes considerable economic losses to the dairy industry. Aborted fetuses and samples from the corresponding aborting dams from 12 dairy herds in Beijing were tested for 9 abortifacient infectious pathogens by PCR between 2008 and 2010. From a total of 80 abortion cases collected during this period, infectious agents were detected in 45 (56.3%) cases, 22 (48.9%) of which represented co-infections with two or three infectious agents. The detected pathogens included infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (36.3%) and<jats:italic>Neospora caninum</jats:italic>(31.3%), followed by bovine viral diarrhoea virus (7.5%),<jats:italic>Brucella abortus</jats:italic>(6.3%),<jats:italic>Tritrichomonas foetus</jats:italic>(5%) and<jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii</jats:italic>(1.3%).<jats:italic>Campylobacter fetus, Coxiella burnetii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Chlamydophila psittaci</jats:italic>were not detected in any abortion case. Findings from this study indicated that infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus and<jats:italic>Neospora caninum</jats:italic>were the main potential causes of abortions in Beijing dairy herds, whereas the bacterial pathogens were not, in contrast to reports from other countries. This is the first study to test nine abortifacient infectious agents by PCR at the same time, and it is also the first time to report the involvement of a variety of infectious agents in bovine abortion cases in China.</jats:p>

Review on Emerging and Reemerging Microbial Causes in Bovine Abortion

“…Bacterialike Salmonella, Actinomyces, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Pasteurella Nocardia, and chlamydia species, as determined by the microbiologicalfindings, can cause abortion [4]. All these organisms and few others that are not listed have been isolated from sporadic cases of abortion.…”

Diagnosis of Tritrichomonas foetus-infected bulls, an ultimate approach to eradicate bovine trichomoniasis in US cattle?

“…For example, four of 80 aborted fetuses (5 %) in 12 dairy herds in Beijing, China, between 2008 and 2010 were positive, although all four were coinfected with other pathogens such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (2), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (1), Brucella abortius (1) or Neospora caninum (1) (Yang et al, 2012). Twentyseven of 41 herds (65.9 %) were positive, and prevalence ranged from 2.9 to 33.3 % with an average of 11.7 % in bulls in the Victoria River district of Australia between 1985and 1986(McCool et al, 1988.…”

Tritrichomonas foetus infections in female beef cattle with abortion in Wyoming, USA

“…In a survey of pathogens by PCR from 80 aborted bovine foetuses in Beijing, China, infectious agents were detected in 45 (56.3 %), 22 (48.9 %) of which represented co-infections with two or three infectious agents. The pathogens identified and their rates were: bovine rhinotracheitis virus (36.3 %), Neospora caninum (31.3 %), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (7.5 %), Brucella abortus (6.3 %), T. foetus (5 %) and Toxoplasma gondii (1.3 %) (Yang et al, 2012).…”