Chlamydia pecorum and arthritis in lambs

Our latest research publication Detection of Chlamydia pecorum in joints trimmed from ovine carcases with arthritis at an abattoir in southern Australia has just been published in Small Ruminant Research. 

Chlamydia are obligate intracellular bacteria that infect a broad range of host species, including sheep. Two species of Chlamydia infect sheep, C. abortus, which is a major cause of abortion in both sheep and goats, and C. pecorum, which cause arthritis/polyarthritis, encephalomyelitis, conjunctivitis, enteritis, abortion and metritis, and infertility in domestic ruminants and pigs. The prevalence of faecal shedding of C. pecorum is relatively common in Australian lambs. C. abortusdoes not occur in Australian sheep.

We used qPCR to determine the prevalence of C. pecorum in synovial samples obtained from abnormal joints trimmed from lamb carcasses at one abattoir in southern Australia. The study included 53,131 carcasses, of which 369 had at least one abnormal joint trimmed. One hundred and forty eight trimmed joints were undamaged and suitable for PCR testing. The prevalence of C. pecorum in synovial tissues collected from the 148 abnormal joints was 6.1%.

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