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Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo is not a major cause of bovine abortion in Victoria
Author(s) -
CHAPPEL RJ.,
MILLAR BD.,
ADLER B.,
HILL J.,
JEFFERS MJ.,
JONES RT.,
McCAUGHAN CJ.,
MEAD LJ.,
SKILBECK NW.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1989.tb09719.x
Subject(s) - serotype , leptospira interrogans , biology , abortion , leptospira , serology , veterinary medicine , genotype , pregnancy , virology , medicine , antibody , immunology , biochemistry , genetics , gene
The aim of this study was to determine whether evidence could be obtained of foetal infection with Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo in aborted foetuses collected from dairy farms. Material from 197 abortions occurring over a wide area of Victoria was collected over 3 years. None of 195 foetal kidney cultures or 7 cultures from membranes was positive for lep‐tospiral organisms. Immunogold silver staining for leptospires was performed on sections of kidneys, lungs or heart from 156 foetuses, with negative results. Evidence of transient lep‐tospiral infection in 11 of 123 foetuses was obtained by foetal heart blood serology. Two isolates of L. interrogans serovar hardjo were obtained from the urine of milking cows. These strains were examined by restriction endonuclease analysis and both were shown to be of the genotype Hardjobovis, as have been all Australian isolates studied so far. It appears that foetal infection with serovar hardjo is not associated with any substantial proportion of bovine abortions in Victoria, in contrast to the situation in Northern Ireland. The apparent absence from Victoria of the pathogenic genotype Hardjoprajitno is a possible explanation.