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Isolation of Serratia, Arcanobacterium and Burkholderia species from visceral and cutaneous abscesses in four emaciated ewes

contained semi-dry ingesta with hard foreign bodies consisting of rags and plastic bags. There was severe atrophy in the fat deposits. Direct examination of pus smears from the abscesses revealed predominantly Gram-negative coccobacilli and small bacilli. Colonies on blood agar were medium-sized, opaque, rounded and non-mucoid; on MacConkey’s agar, the colonies were smaller and pale in colour. No pigment production was detected on incubation at 37°C or 22°C. Smears revealed Gram-negative coccobacilli. Based on the morphology, cultures and biochemical reactions (API commercial kit), the isolate was identified as S marcescens, as described by Koneman and others (1997). The isolate was fully sensitive to gentamicin and novobiocin, moderately sensitive to kanamycin and oxytetracycline, and resistant to ampicillin, amoxycillin, erythromycin and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim. The isolates from ewes 2 and 3 were identified as A pyogenes as described by Koneman and others (1997). Both isolates were moderately sensitive to novobiocin and showed resistance to the other antibiotics tested. Cultural features and biochemical tests identified the isolate from ewe 4 as being B cepacia. This isolate was fully sensitive to ampicillin and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim, moderately sensitive to erythromycin, and resistant to the rest of the antibiotics tested. In the pathogenicity assay with S marcescens, four of the experimentally infected mice died after 24 hours with apparent congestion in the internal organs. Pyogenic infection in sheep is a serious health problem, affecting meat, milk and skin quality, and can even cause the death of the affected animal (Stoops and others 1984). In this study, four emaciated ewes were investigated. During the past two decades S marcescens has aroused the interest of clinicians and microbiologists because of the increasing numbers of cases of infection in people and animals (Ruegg and others 1992, Gross 1994, Di Guardo and others 1997). This is the first record of this species as a cause of sheep abscesses in Saudi Arabia. Abscesses were encountered in the abdominal viscera more than in the lungs, suggesting that the respiratory system might not have been the portal of entry. The S marcescens isolated was non-pigmented, a characteristic not uncommon among the pathogenic strains, as reported by other workers (Gross 1994). The pathogenicity of the isolate was demonstrated in mice, in which four of six animals died within 24 hours. Clinical examination of ewe 1 revealed signs of chronic weight loss and anaemia. The presence of foreign bodies in the animal’s rumen could indicate that it had been scavenging as a result of insufficient feeding leading to weight loss, which predisposed it to the pyogenic infection. These stress factors probably affected the animal’s resistance, contributing to the spread of the organism to regional lymph nodes and thence to other organs. This report highlights the possible role of S marcescens in abscess formation in sheep. However, isolation of the organism from clinical specimens should be interpreted carefully to pinpoint its role in an infection. A pyogenes was isolated from abscesses in two ewes from a flock of 34 animals (ewes 2 and 3), giving a prevalence rate of 5·9 per cent in this flock. A pyogenes liberates a haemolytic dermonecrotising exotoxin, a protease and a neuraminidase (Quinn and others 2002). These could result in the accumulation of inflammatory cells until an abscess is formed, possibly as in the present cases, in which abscesses were found in the dermis. It is interesting that these field isolates were susceptible to novobiocin only, and both were resistant to most commonly used antimicrobial agents. The flock was kept under an intensive husbandry system, and it is possible that one of these ewes contracted the infection from the other; the common antibiogram of the isolates supports this conclusion. Misuse of antibiotics may lead to the emergence of resistant strains and progress the infection, treatment of these animals Isolation of Serratia, Arcanobacterium and Burkholderia species from visceral and cutaneous abscesses in four emaciated ewes