Showing papers by "Robert Higgins published in 1996"

Mycobacterium avium complex abortion in a mare.

Abstract: A 6-year-old standardbred mare spontaneously aborted at approximately 300 days of gestation. This was the third consecutive year this animal had aborted at the same period of gestation. The mare had never been in good bodily condition since its purchase 3 years before and intermittently had soft (cow manure-like), foul-smelling feces. No clinical signs were observed in the mare prior to or after the abortion. The 30kg female fetus was submitted for necropsy with the fetal membranes. On gross examination, the chorionic surface of the allantochorion was diffusely covered by a creamy white homogeneous material. Removal of this exudate revealed a reddened, finely granular chorionic surface. These changes were marked in the cervical star and the body of the placenta and decreased in severity from the base to the tips of both the pregnant and nonpregnant horns. No lesions were observed in either the amnion or umbilical cord. The lungs were dark red and shiny, with a moderate amount of serous fluid on cut section. There were a few pinpoint whitish foci scattered on the surface and in cut sections of the liver. Sections of allantochorion, amnion, brain, heart, lung, thymus, liver, spleen, kidney, thyroid, tongue, and skeletal muscle were fixed in 10% buffered formalin and routinely processed for

Detection of cervical bacterial contamination in swine by two methods of swabbing in relation to artificial insemination.

Abstract: Factors associated with uterine contamination during artificial insemination (AI) are not well defined. A frequently imputed risk factor is vulvar hygiene, although its role has never been assessed objectively. The aim of this study was to identify an objective marker of hygiene during AI and to assess the impact of vulvar hygiene on cervical contamination. In a herd in a depopulation-repopulation process, 68 paired sows of each parity were divided into 2 treatment groups. Before 2 sham AIs, with a 24 hour interval, control sows (CTR) had their vulva cleaned and treatment sows (TRT) had theirs soiled with feces. After the 2nd sham AI, swabbings were taken from the spirette and from the cervix. Bacterial growth was assessed by a semiquantitative method, and aerobic bacterial species identified. The discordance between the paired data was assessed by a McNemar chi-square test. No difference in gram-positive bacterial counts between the 2 groups was found using the cervical swab (P > 0.05). The presence of trace colonies of Escherichia coli were, however, more frequent in TRT (P < 0.05). The spirette showed a greater contamination for mixed flora of bacterial species such as E. coli (P < 0.001) and non-S. suis streptococci (P < 0.05) in TRT sows. A light cervical E. coli growth was more frequent when the vulva had been soiled. Bacterial flora on the spirette following AI may be used as an objective and practical indicator of vulvar hygiene during AI in sows.