Ovine abortion associated with campylobacter fetus subsp. Fetus st2 in turkey

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the microbiological, molecular and pathological findings of abortus cases detected in a sheep herd consist of 200 animals. Macroscopically, irregular necrotic foci were observed in the liver in aborted fetuses. Selective and non-selective media were used for the isolation of causative agent. Phenotypic and molecular tests were performed for identification. Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus (Cff) was isolated from organs of four foetuses aborted. While the vaginal swap samples taken from sheep that did not abort, water, feed and litter samples produced negative results for Cff, 5 of the 20 faecal samples and 5 of the vaginal swaps taken from the sheep that had aborted, yielded Cff. Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) was used for genotyping and all isolates were detected as Sequence Type 2 (ST2). This is the first documented report of an ovine abortion caused by Cff ST2 in Turkey. It is considered that the development and use of vaccines, containing local Campylobacter species, would contribute to both prophylaxis and control of abortions caused by campylobacters including Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus.