The artificial infection of sheep with a brucella-like organism

Abstract

Extract A previous paper by McFarlane et al. ( 1952a McFarlane, D. , Salisbury, R. M. , Osborne, H. G. and Jebson, J. L. 1952a. Aust. vet. J., 28: 221–226. [Google Scholar] ) has recorded the presence in New Zealand of a type of abortion in sheep due to infection by a weakly acid-fast Gram-negative bacillus, and characterized pathologically by widespread lesions in the foetal membranes. It was later shown (McFarlane et al., 1952b McFarlane, D. , Jebson, J. L. , Hartley, W. J. , Salisbury, R. M. , McClure, T. J. and Osborne, H. G. 1952b. Aust. vet. J., 28: 226–226. [Crossref] [Google Scholar] ) that a morphologically similar organism is associated with lesions in the genitalia of the ram. Successful experimental transmission has been reported from ram to ram and from ram to ewe using suspensions of organisms obtained from naturally occurring cases of the epididymitis complex in rams (N..Z Dept. Agric., 1951–52 McFarlane, D. , Jebson, J. L. , Hartley, W. J. , Salisbury, R. M. , McClure, T. J. and Osborne, H. G. 1952b. Aust. vet. J., 28: 226–226. [Crossref] [Google Scholar] , and McFarlane et al., 1952b Buddle, M. B. and Boyes, B. W. 1953. Aust. vet. J., 29: 145–153. [Crossref] [Google Scholar] ). The detailed bacteriology of this organism has been studied by Buddle and Boyes ( 1953 Buddle, M. B. and Boyes, B. W. 1953. Aust. vet. J., 29: 145–153. [Crossref] [Google Scholar] ), who showed that the organism obtained from infected ram genitalia is identical with that obtained from infected foetal membranes.