The bacterial flora of the respiratory tract of normal and pneumonic sheep

Authors: Alley MR
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 23, Issue 6, pp 113-118, Jun 1975
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Bacterial, Infectious disease, Disease/defect, Ear/nose/throat, Notifiable organisms/exotic disease, Pneumonia/pleurisy, Respiratory system, Zoonosis, Public health
Article class: Scientific Article

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Abstract: For many years chronic and subacute pneumonia has been recognized as a common finding in the lungs of lambs at slaughter throughout New Zealand. While the effect of the disease on weight gain is not clear, there can be no doubt that residual pleuritis is an important cause of economic loss through high condemnation rates of carcasses. Previous bacteriological investigations have been confined to outbreaks of acute enzootic pneumonia (Salisbury, 1957). In these cases the lungs examined were from sheep of all ages and Pasteurella haemolytica was invariably isolated. No studies have been reported on the bacterial flora of chronic and subacute pneumonia in lambs in New Zealand. The present survey was undertaken to compare the bacterial flora of the nasal cavity, trachea and lungs of normal sheep with that of pneumonic sheep at slaughter. A limited investigation of the bacteria present in pneumonic lesions of various pathololgical types is also included.

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