[Study of the reactivity and immunogenicity of a combined vaccine against abortion due to coxiellosis and chlamydiosis in sheep]. / Sledovanie reaktogénnosti a imunogénnosti kombinovanej vakcíny proti koxielóze a chlamýdiovému potratu oviec.

Reactogenicity was studied in a combined vaccine against Q-fever and chlamydia-induced abortion in ewes; the vaccine consisted of a mixture of purified corpuscles of Chlamydia psittaci (100 micrograms) and Coxiella burnetii (50 micrograms). The immunogenicity of the combined vaccine, evaluated by the number of positive serums after vaccination and by the average geometric titre of antibodies, was the same as that of the vaccine separate constituents as to the antibodies to C. burnetii, but somewhat higher in the case of antibodies to Chlamydia psittaci. When studied on a smaller number of ewes, the combined vaccine had an optimum immunogenicity in the cases of the prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci over C. burnetii in the vaccine.

[Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci from an aborted bovine fetus]. / Izolácia Chlamydia psittaci z abortovaného plodu kravy.

One strain of Chl. psittaci was isolated from two aborted foetuses of two cows coming from the same locality. Tissue from the lungs of the aborted foetuses was used for the isolation tests; after sample preparation this tissue was inoculated into the yolk sacs of chick embryos. It was found on the basis of serological examination (RVK) that both aborting cows had positive levels of antibodies against the Chl. psittaci antigen at a serum dilution ratio of 1 : 64. The serological examination for brucellosis (BAB) and coxiellosis was negative. The bacteriological examination (aerobic and anaerobic cultivation, salmonellae, mycoplasms and moulds) also gave negative results.

[Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci and Moraxella bovis from infectious keratoconjunctivitis in lambs]. / Izolácia Chlamydia psittaci a Moraxella bovis z infekcnej keratokonjunktivitídy jahniat.

Out of 189 lambs in the flock, 25 animals suffered from bilateral or unilateral conjunctivitis, or keratoconjunctivitis. By serological examination (RVK), positive levels of antibodies to the group-specific antigen of Chl. psittaci were found in three out of six lambs examined by laboratory methods. Bacteriological examination of eye smears of six lambs showed in four cases the infection by microorganisms of Moraxella bovis. Smears from the conjunctivas of these lambs were after preparation instilled in the yolk sacs of six to seven days old chicken embryos. One strain of Chlamydia psittaci was isolated from the same material as Moraxella bovis.

[Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci from bull ejaculate]. / Isolácia Chlamydia psittaci z ejakulátu býka.

During the repeated serological examination (RVK) in five breeding bulls the positive levels of antibodies to Chlamydia psittaci in titre 1 : 128 were found. In the isolation experiments the pelleted ejaculates deposited in liquid nitrogen were used. The isolation of Chlamydia psittaci on yolk sacs of chicken embryos was positive in two breeding bulls. The isolated strains are labelled GN-33 and OK-107. The serological examination of blood samples was in all five breeding bulls negative on brucellosis (BAB), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and coxiellosis and positive on PI-3. Bacteriological examination of spermatic fluid proved only sporadic contamination with moulds and saprophytic bacteria.

[Isolation and identification of Clamydia psittaci as the pathogen in enzootic abortion of sheep in eastern Slovakia]. / Izolácia a identifikácia Chlamydia psittaci ako pôvodcu enzootického potratu oviec na východnom slovensku.

Abortions in ewes occurred on a large scale in three localities in eastern Slovakia. Antibodies to the group-type ornithosis antigen were detected in titres of 1 : 128 to 1 : 2048 in the aborting ewes in the mentioned localities. Suspensions were prepared from the four samples of material, obtained either from the placentae and afterbirths of the aborting ewes or from the tissues of the aborted foetuses. Seven-day old yolk sacs of chicken embryos were infected with these suspensions. Four strains of Chlamydia psittaci were isolated and designated EPO-A2-uterus, EPO-B1 aborted foetus-lung, EPO-B2-aborted foetus-lung, EPO-B3-aborted foetus-spleen. Differential diagnosis eliminated some bacteria, toxoplasma, and parainfluenza-3 virus as possible agents responsible for the abortions.

[Enzootic abortion among ewes in the Roznava district]. / Enzootický potrat oviec v okrese Roznava.

In the winter months of the year 1977, 64 dams out of 170 ewes pregnant for the first time miscarried on one farm in the locality G., Roznava district. Antibodies were revealed in 97% dams after the examination of the blood of 170 ewes from the abortion-affected flock; ornithosis antigen was employed for the examination in the complement-fixing reaction. In the cytoplasm of placentary cells of two miscarrying ewes chlamydiae were proved microscopically. The chlamydiae-strains designated LH-5109 and PK-5082 were isolated by inoculating placentary suspensions to the yolk sacs of chicken embryos. Both strains correspond to all the criteria necessitating the identification of chlamydiae (Storz, 1971). As miscarrying ewes in the course of abortions eliminate, with abortions and amniotic fluids, great amounts of chlamydiae to their environment, they represent a powerful source of infection to healthy animals housed on the same premises and to tending staff. Chlamydiae-antibodies were proved, by the complement-fixing reaction, in the blood of seven attendants out of all the eleven-member tending staff.