Journal article
Chlamydia pecorum detection in aborted and stillborn lambs from Western Australia
Veterinary Research, Vol.52(1), pp.1-11
2021
PMCID: PMC8196467
PMID: 34116730
Abstract
Lamb survival is an important welfare and productivity issue for sheep industries worldwide. Lower lamb survival has been reported for primiparous ewes, but the causes of this are not well studied. The aim of this study was to determine causes of perinatal deaths for lambs born to primiparous ewes in Western Australia, and identify if infectious diseases are implicated. Lamb mortality from birth to marking were determined for 11 primiparous ewe flocks on 10 farms in Western Australia. Lamb mortality from birth to marking averaged 14% for single-born and 26% for multiple-born lambs. Lamb necropsies (n = 298) identified starvation–mismosthering–exposure (34%), dystocia (24%) and stillbirth (15%) as the most common causes of perinatal lamb death. There was no evidence of exotic abortigenic pathogens in aborted and stillborn lambs (n = 35). Chlamydia pecorum was detected by qPCR in 15/35 aborted and stillborn lambs on 5/6 farms. Preliminary molecular characterisation of C. pecorum detected in samples from aborted and stillborn lambs (n = 8) using both Multilocus Sequence Typing and ompA genotyping indicated all strains were genetically identical to previously described pathogenic livestock strains, denoted ST23, and dissimilar to gastrointestinal strains. High frequency of detection of a pathogenic C. pecorum strains ST23 associated with ovine abortion and stillbirth on multiple farms located across a wide geographic area has not been previously reported. Chlamydia pecorum may contribute to reproductive wastage for primiparous sheep in Western Australia. Further investigation to understand C. pecorum epidemiology and impact on sheep reproduction is warranted.
Details
- Title
- Chlamydia pecorum detection in aborted and stillborn lambs from Western Australia
- Authors
- Tom Clune (Author) - Murdoch UniversityShane Besier (Author) - Department of Primary Industries and Regional DevelopmentSam Hair (Author) - Department of Primary Industries and Regional DevelopmentSerina Hancock (Author) - Murdoch UniversityAmy Lockwood (Author) - Murdoch UniversityAndrew Thompson (Author) - Murdoch UniversityMartina Jelocnik (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, GeneCology Research Centre - LegacyCaroline Jacobson (Author) - Murdoch University
- Publication details
- Veterinary Research, Vol.52(1), pp.1-11
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1186/s13567-021-00950-w
- ISSN
- 1297-9716
- PMID
- 34116730; PMC8196467
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99544107802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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