ABSTRACT
This report describes the fetoplacental pathology of Chlamydia psittaci-associated abortion, premature birth, and neonatal loss in 46 of 442 equine abortion investigations between 2015 and 2019. Seven abortions, 26 premature births, and 13 neonatal deaths with positive C. psittaci polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were evaluated. In 83% of cases (38/46), C. psittaci infection was considered as the primary cause of loss based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) confirmation, pathological findings, and exclusion of other causes, and was supported by Chlamydia spp immunolabeling in fetoplacental lesions. Lymphohistiocytic placentitis with vasculitis (36/38) affected the amnion, umbilical cord, and chorioallantois at the umbilical vessel insertion and/or cervical pole. Lymphohistiocytic chorionitis in the subvillous stroma extended to the allantois mostly without villous destruction. Lymphohistiocytic amnionitis and funisitis occurred at the amniotic cord attachment. Lymphohistiocytic hepatitis was observed in 19/38 cases and pneumonia was identified in 26 cases. Chlamydia spp immunolabeled in placenta, lung, liver, or splenic tissue in the cases that were tested (14/38). C. psittaci infection was not the cause of loss in 2 cases with other diseases and of uncertain significance in 6 cases with no conclusive cause of loss. immunohistochemistry (IHC) was negative for 6 of these cases (6/8). The highest Chlamydia load was detected in pooled placental tissues by qPCR. qPCR and IHC had 83% congruence at a qPCR cut-off of 1 gene copy. IHC limits of detection corresponded to infections with 2 × 102 gene copies identified by qPCR. This study confirms the etiological role of C. psittaci as a cause of naturally occurring equine reproductive loss.
Subject(s)
Chlamydia Infections , Chlamydia , Chlamydophila psittaci , Chorioamnionitis , Horse Diseases , Premature Birth , Abortion, Veterinary/pathology , Animals , Chlamydia Infections/complications , Chlamydia Infections/pathology , Chlamydia Infections/veterinary , Chlamydophila psittaci/genetics , Chorioamnionitis/pathology , Chorioamnionitis/veterinary , Female , Horse Diseases/pathology , Horses , Placenta/pathology , Pregnancy , Premature Birth/pathology , Premature Birth/veterinaryABSTRACT
We describe three cases of osteoarticular infection (OAI) in young thoroughbred horses in which the causative organism was identified by MALDI-TOF as Kingella species. The pattern of OAI resembled that reported with Kingella infection in humans. Analysis by 16S rRNA PCR enabled construction of a phylogenetic tree that placed the isolates closer to Simonsiella and Alysiella species, rather than Kingella species. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) comparison between the new isolate and Kingella kingae and Alysiella crassa however revealed low probability that the new isolate belonged to either of these species. This preliminary analysis suggests the organism isolated is a previously unrecognised species.
ABSTRACT
A case of amoebic placentitis in a mare from eastern Australia was diagnosed postpartum by histopathological examination of the placenta. The identity of the etiological agent was confirmed as Acanthamoeba hatchetti by use of diversity profiling based on a next-generation sequencing approach.
Subject(s)
Acanthamoeba/isolation & purification , Amebiasis/veterinary , Horse Diseases/diagnosis , Placenta Diseases/veterinary , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/veterinary , Acanthamoeba/genetics , Amebiasis/diagnosis , Amebiasis/parasitology , Amebiasis/pathology , Animals , Australia , DNA, Protozoan/chemistry , DNA, Protozoan/genetics , Female , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Horse Diseases/parasitology , Horse Diseases/pathology , Horses , Molecular Sequence Data , Placenta Diseases/diagnosis , Placenta Diseases/parasitology , Placenta Diseases/pathology , Pregnancy , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/diagnosis , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/parasitology , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/pathologyABSTRACT
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that has been recognized as a cause of endometritis in mares. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis was used to characterize and compare isolates of P. aeruginosa from an outbreak of endometritis and unrelated isolates collected at the same time as the outbreak. The restriction endonuclease digestion patterns and antimicrobial resistance profiles of all outbreak isolates were identical. Therefore, a single strain of P. aeruginosa was responsible for the cases of endometritis. The unrelated isolates could be distinguished from the outbreak strain using the techniques outlined in the present study. The results establish that this pathogen was not venereally transmitted between all the horses from which it was isolated, but rather must have been disseminated, at least initially, from a contaminated water source. Once the water used to clean the mares and stallions was replaced, there were no further reports of endometritis caused by this organism on the affected stud. Furthermore, the fertility of the stallions was not affected, in spite of persistent carriage for 1 to 2 months. The current study has shown that the use of pulsed field gel electrophoresis has considerable value in epidemiological investigations of equine urogenital tract infections with P. aeruginosa.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/veterinary , Endometritis/veterinary , Horse Diseases/microbiology , Pseudomonas Infections/veterinary , Animals , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Drug Resistance, Bacterial , Endometritis/microbiology , Female , Horse Diseases/epidemiology , Horses , Male , New South Wales/epidemiology , Pseudomonas Infections/epidemiology , Pseudomonas Infections/microbiology , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Victoria/epidemiology , Water MicrobiologyABSTRACT
Assessment of peripheral blood leukocytes is the most common clinical pathology test in equine practice. It is always a part of complete body function assessment and frequently is used alone, or in conjunction with, fibrinogen to monitor response to treatment.
