Fluorescence in situ hybridization in species-specific diagnosis of ovineabortions.

Abstract

infection is a leading cause of ovine abortion worldwide.andare the major species involved. We report herein on abortion storms in 4 Danish sheep flocks. Initially, no pathogenic bacteria were isolated from placental and fetal tissues on aerobic and selective media despite the presence of severe suppurative and necrotizing placentitis with numerous bacteria located intracellularly in trophoblasts. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was then applied on abortion material from 13 cases; species-specific oligonucleotide probes directed against eitherorwere used in combination with a general bacterial probe.was detected as the only lesion-associated bacterial species in 4 cases from 2 flocks, andin 6 cases from the other 2 flocks, thereby establishing the likely etiology of the abortion storms in all 4 flocks. FISH is a useful detection tool in culture-negative cases with tissue lesions suggestive of bacterial infection. Furthermore, FISH is a fast and economical method to detect and identify the zoonotic agentwithin ovine abortion material.