Listeria monocytogenes gastroenteritis in sheep

Authors: Clark RG, Gill JM, Swanney S
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 52, Issue 1, pp 46-47, Feb 2004
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Abdomen, Alimentary system/gastroenterology, Bacterial, Biosecurity, Disease surveillance, Inflammation, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Notifiable organisms/exotic disease, Zoonosis, Public health
Article class: Correspondence

---

Abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is widely distributed in the environment of farm animals. It is found in soil, faeces and nasal secretions of healthy animals, water troughs and animal feeds. Under certain conditions it becomes pathogenic, causing serious disease in cattle and sheep. Most commonly it causes meningoencephalitis but, on occasion, septicaemic listeriosis results in abortion, and more recently it has been associated with gastroenteritis. In New Zealand, L. monocytogenes was first recognised as a cause of gastroenteritis in sheep in 1992 (Anonymous1992) and since then has been regularly reported in animal health surveillance reports from both Lincoln and Invermay laboratories (Anonymous 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000ab, 2001ab and 2002; Orr 1998). Although the disease causes similar clinical signs and post mortem findings to enteric salmonellosis in sheep, only L. monocytogenes was isolated from these cases. The disease is generally associated with the feeding of baleage and silage and occurs mostly in the winter months from May to August. This report describes cases diagnosed from 1999 to 2002 at an animal health laboratory at Invermay, in the South Island of New Zealand.

---