title: Helicobacter bilis and Helicobacter trogontum: infectious causes of abortion in sheep.
abstract: The aim of our study was to determine the association of Helicobacter spp. that had flexispira morphology with ovine abortion, and to understand the importance of these organisms as a cause of ovine abortion in New Zealand. A retrospective diagnostic survey was carried out on laboratory submissions from ovine abortion outbreaks. A comparison was made of the proportion of laboratory submissions where Helicobacter spp. were detected from flocks that had no other agent identified (group A) with a group that had a known cause of abortion identified (group B). This latter group was considered to be a negative control, given the premise that Helicobacter spp. were not causing abortions and that Helicobacter spp. should be present at a lower rate in the group. Where no diagnosis had been made, aborted material was positive for Helicobacter spp. with flexispira morphology in 8 submissions (20%, 8/40) from 5 of the 31 survey farms (16%, 5/31). Helicobacter spp. were not detected in any of the 18 submissions from the 17 control farms (group B). Helicobacter spp. were confirmed by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing of 3 of the Helicobacter spp. isolated by culture from the livers of aborted sheep fetuses, and 7 of the 8 where samples were positive in a Helicobacter PCR assay. The Helicobacter spp. were identified as Helicobacter trogontum (Flexispira taxon 5 genotype) and Helicobacter bilis (Flexispira taxon 8 genotype). The findings support Helicobacter spp. being a probable causative agent of ovine abortions in New Zealand.
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Taryrn G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Haydon
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Rawdon
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Andrew M J
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McFadden
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Hye-Jeong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Zeli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Jassia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Alton G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Swennes
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Paster
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Floyd E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Dewhirst
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst) jgfox@mit.edu.
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Invermay, Dunedin, New Zealand (Gill)Ministry for Primary Industries, Upper Hutt, New Zealand (Haydon, Rawdon, McFadden, Ha, Spence)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Shen, Feng, Pang, Swennes, Fox)Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA (Paster, Dewhirst)Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA (Paster, Dewhirst).
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Spence
mesh_terms: D037881:Aborted Fetus; D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D016998:Helicobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011247:Pregnancy; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000032:analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Abortion; Helicobacter; flexispira; ovine; rappini; sheep; surveillance