184
Contagious Abortion of Cattle, Sheep and Goats
[VOL. XVIII, PART III
SECTION VIII. SPECIFIC ABORTION, OTHER THAN BRUCELLOSIS
(Abortions caused by specific primary genita infection, other than Brucellosis)
During the course of the scheme, a constant vigilance has been maintained for evidence of specific
primary genital infections, which, Brucellosis apart, are known to cause abortion ; those commonly
described are (i) Trichomoniasis, (ii) Listerellosis, (iii) Vibrio infections, (iv) Salmonella infections,
to which may be added one or two bacterial diseases suspected of having the occasional ability of
causing abortion. It may be said at once that, in India, no epidemic abortion has been encountered
which could be attributed to any of these infections ; but the following notes on each are appended.
Trichomoniasis
Infection by T. foetus has been suspected in occasional cases of bovine abortion or sterility in
south India. Suspicions have generally been aroused by the co-existence of purulent vaginal dis-
charges with abortion—one of the characteristics of this infection. The writer has, from time to time,
come across such discharges, notably in buffaloes, but he has never been able to trace the complete
typical syndrome with all its manifestations of vaginitis, abortion, sterility and above all, plurality
of infection obviously transmitted by the bull. In these sporadic cases, and also in the case of three
herds suffering from abortion, numerous slides of cervical washings have been made, but in no case,
could the disease be diagnozed. Further, this seems to be the experience of other interested workers,
notably in south India. Although T. foetus has never been discovered in slide examinations, on two
occasions, slides of vaginal washings of from aborted buffaloes have revealed a heavy infestation with
sarcocysts ; but, as numerous preparations from other co-aborting animals did not reveal similar
infestation, the incident could not be accepted as significant.
The methods used for diagnosis of protozoa in the vaginal secretions were as follows : (1) direct
microscopic examination of freshly-made, wet, unstained smears (this is probably the best method,
provided the apparatus is available on the spot and the appearance of the live trichomonad is familiar
to the operator); (2) microscopic examination of smears made from the centrifuged saline washings
of vaginal swabs ; (3) the seeding of special culture media (media kindly supplied by Dr H. N. Ray
of the Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar-Kumaun, United Provinces, with sus-
pected material ; (4) considerations of epidemiology and clinical history. At one time, plans were
formed to develop the agglutination test for T. foetus in India, but, as type-strains could not be
transported from Europe, in the conditions or delay imposed by the war, the idea had to be abandoned.
Salmonella listerella and vibrios
In plating specimens from aborting animals for the isolation of Brucella, a record has been
kept of common commensals ; but none has in any way resembled Vibrios or Salmonella, and with the
possible exception of the case described in the next paragraph none has resembled Listerella. On
certain occasions, serum from aborting sheep and goats has been tested for agglutination against
Salmonella abortus ovis, but in no case was the titre diagnostically significant. This failure to dis-
cover, either these organisms, or trichomonads does not, however, imply that they are wholly absent
from India, but it does suggest that their incidence or pathogenisis is insufficient to render them
consipicious to the diagnostician.
A possible new aetiology of goat abortion
The sole exceptions to the foregoing generalization are (1) the Listerella—like strain mentioned
on page 191 together with a nearly identical strain isolated from the stomach contents of a bovine
foetus, aborted in Dehra Dun. These strains are denoted X31 and X39 respectively, while sub-strains
recovered from animal inoculation, are given the number of their host prefixed by the letter X.
As both these strains were isolated during the last few months of the scheme and, as great diffi-
culty was experienced in persuading them to survive at all, lat alone submit to tests on artificial media,