Vertebral fracture due to Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae osteomyelitis in a weaner

Abstract

Background Osteomyelitis is relatively frequent in young pigs and a few bacterial species have been postulated to be potential causative agents. Although Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae has been sporadically described to cause osteomyelitis, typically, actinobacillosis is characterized by respiratory symptoms. Nevertheless, subclinical infections are a challenging problem in pig herds. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case description that reports clinical, diagnostic imaging, pathological and histopathological findings of vertebral osteomyelitis in a pig and first describes A. pleuropneumoniae as the causative agent identified by advanced molecular methods. Case presentation An eight-week-old female weaner was presented with a non-ambulatory tetraparesis. The neurological signs were consistent with a lesion in the C6-T2 spinal cord segments. Imaging studies revealed a collapse of the seventh cervical vertebral body (C7) with a well demarcated extradural space-occupying mass ventrally within the vertebral canal severely compressing the spinal cord. Post-mortem examination identified an abscess and osteomyelitis of C7 and associated meningitis and neuritis with subsequent pathological fracture of C7 and compression of the spinal cord. In the microbiological analysis, A. pleuropneumoniae was identified using PCR and DNA sequence analysis. Conclusions A. pleuropneumoniae can be responsible for chronic vertebral abscess formation with subsequent pathological fracture and spinal cord compression in pigs.

Microbiological aspects of osteomyelitis in veterinary medicine: drawing parallels to the infection in human medicine

“…VO is a well-known condition in food-producing animals and has been reported in several animal species such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and horses, as well as in domestic animals (Radostits et al 2006 ; Alonso et al 2019 ; Shivapour et al 2019 ; Giebels et al 2020 ; Vieira‐Pinto et al 2020). However, the traditional name in veterinary medicine for this infection is spondylitis, or discospondylitis if the intervertebral disc is affected (Moore 1992 ; Thomas 2000 ).…”