Sarcina-like bacteria, Clostridium fallax and Clostridium sordellii in lambs with abomasal bloat, haemorrhage and ulcers

A study of abomasal disease in lambs aged 2-5 weeks, made during the period 1993-1998, included 67 cases and 45 non-affected controls. Gross pathologi cal findings included various combinations of bloat, haemorrhage and ulcers in the abomasum. Sarcina-like bacteria were found in sections and smears f rom the abomasum of 79% (53/67) of the cases. From one case, a lamb with ab omasal bloat, the anaerobic "packet"-forming Sarcina ventriculi was cultiva ted from the abomasal contents and identified by biochemical reactions and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Sarcina-like bacteria were observed micros copically in specimens from 94% (44/47) of the lambs with abomasal gas and in 45% (9/20) of those with ulcers or haemorrhage or both but little gas. O n culture, abomasal contents from 41 cases yielded Clostridium fallax from 16 (39%) and Clostridium sordellii from eight (20%); abomasal cultures from 30 control lambs were negative for the three bacterial species. Quantitati ve cultivation, carried out on abomasal contents from live lambs and lambs dead less than or equal to 3 h, showed that Clostridium perfringens, Escher ichia coli and Lactobacillus spp. were present in the majority of both case s and controls, with no significant differences in the mean numbers. (C) 20 00 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.