title: Chlamydia abortus in Cows Oviducts, Occasional Event or Causal Connection?
abstract: Fifty-seven genital tracts of regularly slaughtered culled Piedmontese cows, aged 7.4 ± 4.3 years (mean ± SD), range: 2.6-15.6 years, were grossly and microscopically examined. DNA extracted from oviducts was subjected to PCR to evaluate the presence of Chlamydia spp. The 15 PCR-positive oviducts were subjected to Sanger sequencing and showed the presence of Chamydia abortus, with an identity range between 99 and 100%. Nine of the PCR-positive samples belonged to the 24 animals with a normal macroscopic appearance of the whole genital tract (percentage of positive oviducts in normal genital tracts 9/24 = 37.5%), while six belonged to the 33 genital tracts with lesions in one or more organs (percentage of positive oviducts in pathological genital tracts 6/33 = 18.1%); of these, a single animal had salpingitis. The detection of C. abortus in bovine oviducts is of particular interest because it has never been previously investigated or reported.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Appino
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vincenti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rota
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Chieppa
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cadoni
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pregel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D002689:Chlamydia / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D010057:Oviducts / Q000382:microbiology*