AN OUTBREAK OF ABSCESS DISEASE-ASSOCIATED WITH SHEARING

This note reports an outbreak of abscess disease caused by Staphylococ cus aureus subsp. anaerobius occurring in a 250 Assaf sheep flock loca ted in Salamanca (north-central Spain). Thirty-nine of the 55 animals (71%) of the young female group (6-7 months old) selected for breeding were affected by the disease. No abscesses were detected in the adult ewes. Clinical cases were first detected 3 weeks after shearing. In c onsideration of known data on experimental infections of sheep with S. aureus subsp. anaerobius, it is highly probable that the animals in t he present outbreak became infected about shearing time. Therefore, sh earing was the risk factor most probably associated with the outbreak. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.