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Infectious sporadic bovine abortions: retrospective analysis

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Abstract

Infectious sporadic abortions in cattle are mainly caused by opportunistic bacteria and fungi usually present in environmental or gastrointestinal and reproductive microbiota of healthy animals. A retrospective analysis was carried out to evaluate the main opportunistic microorganisms involved in bovine abortions recorded at INTA Balcarce (Argentina) from 1997 to 2023, accounting for 2.2% of the total diagnosed etiologies of bovine abortion. The opportunistic agents identified as the cause of abortion in 29 fetuses were bacteria (90%) and fungi (10%). Escherichia coli (n = 8), Trueperella pyogenes (n = 5), and Histophilus somni (n = 4) were the bacterial species most often identified as causing infectious abortions, whereas Aspergillus spp. (n = 3) was implicated in all fungal abortions identified. Pure culture of bacteria or fungus was achieved from abomasal content and/or lung essential. Main microscopic findings were bronchopneumonia, myo- and epicarditis, meningitis, and portal hepatitis. Herein, we highlight the importance of detecting potential infectious bacteria in cultures to improve etiological diagnosis of bovine abortions associated with compatible microscopic findings to confirm the etiology.

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The data of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the technicians and colleagues from the Animal Health Group at INTA Balcarce.

Funding

This study was funded by research grants from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (FONCyT: PICT 2020–3362) and from INTA Red Nacional de Laboratorios de Diagnóstico Veterinario (2019-RIST-E5-I111-001), Argentina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible (IPADS) Balcarce, Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María A. Fiorentino, Yamila Acuña, Emiliano Sosa, Germán J. Cantón, Ignacio Erreguerena, Rosana Malena, María A. Mendez, Eleonora L. Morrell & Juan A. García

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María A. Fiorentino

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  1. María A. Fiorentino
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  2. Yamila Acuña
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  3. Emiliano Sosa
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  4. Germán J. Cantón
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  5. Ignacio Erreguerena
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  6. Rosana Malena
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  7. María A. Mendez
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  8. Eleonora L. Morrell
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  9. Juan A. García
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The collection of samples and pathological studies were carried out by YA, ES, GJC, ELM, and JAG. Bacterial culture was performed by MAF, RM, and MAM. Micotical cultures were performed by IE. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by MAF, YA, ES, and JAG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YA, MAF, and JAG, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to María A. Fiorentino.

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Fiorentino, M.A., Acuña, Y., Sosa, E. et al. Infectious sporadic bovine abortions: retrospective analysis. Trop Anim Health Prod 56, 63 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-024-03892-5

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