Campylobacter

Question 1

What subspecies is associated with Bovine Genital
Campylobacteriosis (BGC) or Bovine Venereal Campylobacteriosis (BVC)

Answer 1

C.fetus subspecies veneralis
-they are more commonly associated with abortion and have a more sporadic occurence

Question 2

What does Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis cause?

Answer 2

venereal disease that results in infertility or early embryonic death

Question 3

What does campylobacter look like?

Answer 3

• Curved S-shaped or spiral rods
• Gram negative, oxidase +
• sigle polar flagellum, corkscrew motility
• microaerophillic, 5% oxygen

Question 4

What is the best way to grow campylobacter in the lab?

Answer 4

sheep blood agar

Question 5

What is the main form of campylobacter virulence?

Answer 5

• Flagella (most important)
• LOS instead of polysaccharide
• pathogenesis is due to adhesion, invasion

Question 6

What kind of disease is BCG?

Answer 6

venereal disease
the aetiological agent is campylobacter fetus

Question 7

How is c.fetus veneralisis transmitted?

Answer 7

• contaminated instruments, bedding, artifical insemination using contaminated serum

Question 8

What are the clinical signs in cattle?

Answer 8

– Early embryonic death
– Prolonged luteal phases
– Irregular oestrous cycles
– Repeat breeding and as a result, protracted calving periods

Question 9

What is metritis?

Answer 9

inflammation of the uterus

Question 10

What are the usual post-mortem findings in cattle?

Answer 10

• Foetus can be fresh with partially expanded lungs or severley autolysed
• mild fibrinous pleuritis and peritonitis may also be noted
• placentitis is mild with haemorrhagic cotyledons

Question 11

What cattle sample are you taking for bovine infertility?

Answer 11

Aneoustrus mucus from cows, preputial washing from the bull

Question 12

What sample are you taking for bovine abortion?

Answer 12

foetal abomasal content
placenta

Question 13

What do you use the ELISA test for?

Answer 13

testing vaginal mucus

Question 14

What do you have to do when doing a VMAT test?

Answer 14

because there is so much variability in responses, at lesat 10% of the herd must be tested

Question 15

What is the issue with bacterial culture?

Answer 15

number of organisms may be low

Question 16

How often do you need to do sheath washing?

Answer 16

Sheath washing examined using a fluorescent antibody test and or culture. For
maximum accuracy, bulls should be sampled twice, ~1 wk apart.

Question 17

When is campylobacter abortion most likely to occur?

Answer 17

The last 6 weeks of gestation

Question 18

Name two other common causes of ovine abortion

Answer 18

– Chlamydophila
– Toxoplasmosis

Question 19

What is the pathogenesis in sheep?

Answer 19

Campylobacter survives in the environment and can be shed in the faeces and reproductuve tissues
ewes become infected through exposure to the organism in the envoronemnt- faecal oral route
* infection results in bacteraemia or septicaemia which leads to death of the placenta

Question 20

What sample should you take for ovine abortion?

Answer 20

• Foetal abomasal contents ‘
• placenta

Question 21

What is the best way to manage it in sheep?

Answer 21

Keep aborted ewes, but mix with non pregnant replacements to allow
ewes to develop immunity.
* When faced with an outbreak, the only option is to use antibiotics
(generally have no impact).

Question 22

What growth media is specific for campylobacter?

Answer 22

charcoal-cefoperazone deoxycholate media

Question 23

In what age of bull does campylobacter infection tend to be transient?

Answer 23

Young bulls, aged 3-4

Question 24

In what age of bull are the crypts deep enough for an infection to be established?

Answer 24

Bulls over the age of 3/4

Question 25

Where are the igA antibodies usually shed in 50% of cows?

Answer 25

in cervical mucus, several months after infection

Question 26

Where in the bull does campylobacter survive?

Answer 26

In the crypts of the bull penis

enters the reproductive tract via coitus

Question 27

What does metritus result in?

Answer 27

Poor pregnancy rates, reabsorption of the foetus or death of the embryo

Question 28

What does the mucopurulent endometritis result in?

Answer 28

• Early embryonic death
• Prolonged luteal phase
• Irregular oestrus cycle
• repeated breeding, protracted calving periods

Question 29

What is interesting about the clinical signs of bulls?

Answer 29

they are asymptomatic and produce normal semen

Question 30

How may you control campylobacter in cows?

Answer 30

• Surveillance
• Reputable AI
• Antibiotic treatment of infected cows
• Vaccination

Question 31

When is campylobacter shedding seen to be the lowest in sheep?

Answer 31

During Nov/ Dec when they are fed on pasture rather than hay/ silage

Question 32

When is campylobacter shedding seen to be the highest in sheep?

Answer 32

increased stress as a result of lambing, weaning and movement onto new pasture

Question 33

What do the effective vaccines usually consist of?

Answer 33

single or multiple strains of C. fetus and a vaccine containing C. fetus as well as C. jejuni are available in some countries.

Question 34

What animal species is the main source of campylobacter infection in humans?

Answer 34

Poultry

C.jejuni, C.Coli