- Infectious Diseases of Livestock
- Part 3
- Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infections
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: SPIROCHAETES
- Swine dysentery
- Borrelia theileri infection
- Borrelia suilla infection
- Lyme disease in livestock
- Leptospirosis
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: AEROBIC ⁄ MICRO-AEROPHILIC, MOTILE, HELICAL ⁄ VIBROID GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA
- Genital campylobacteriosis in cattle
- Proliferative enteropathies of pigs
- Campylobacter jejuni infection
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: GRAM-NEGATIVE AEROBIC OR CAPNOPHILIC RODS AND COCCI
- Moraxella spp. infections
- Bordetella bronchiseptica infections
- Pseudomonas spp. infections
- Glanders
- Melioidosis
- Brucella spp. infections
- Bovine brucellosis
- Brucella ovis infection
- Brucella melitensis infection
- Brucella suis infection
- Brucella infections in terrestrial wildlife
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: FACULTATIVELY ANAEROBIC GRAM NEGATIVE RODS
- Klebsiella spp. infections
- Escherichia coli infections
- Salmonella spp. infections
- Bovine salmonellosis
- Ovine and caprine salmonellosis
- Porcine salmonellosis
- Equine salmonellosis
- Yersinia spp. infections
- Haemophilus and Histophilus spp. infections
- Haemophilus parasuis infection
- Histophilus somni disease complex in cattle
- Actinobacillus spp. infections
- infections
- Actinobacillus equuli infections
- Gram-negative pleomorphic infections: Actinobacillus seminis, Histophilus ovis and Histophilus somni
- Porcine pleuropneumonia
- Actinobacillus suis infections
- Pasteurella and Mannheimia spp. infections
- Pneumonic mannheimiosis and pasteurellosis of cattle
- Haemorrhagic septicaemia
- Pasteurellosis in sheep and goats
- Porcine pasteurellosis
- Progressive atrophic rhinitis
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ANAEROBIC GRAM-NEGATIVE, IRREGULAR RODS
- Fusobacterium necrophorum, Dichelobacter (Bacteroides) nodosus and Bacteroides spp. infections
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: GRAM-POSITIVE COCCI
- Staphylococcus spp. infections
- Staphylococcus aureus infections
- Exudative epidermitis
- Other Staphylococcus spp. infections
- Streptococcus spp. infections
- Strangles
- Streptococcus suis infections
- Streptococcus porcinus infections
- Other Streptococcus spp. infections
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ENDOSPORE-FORMING GRAM-POSITIVE RODS AND COCCI
- Anthrax
- Clostridium perfringens group infections
- Clostridium perfringens type A infections
- Clostridium perfringens type B infections
- Clostridium perfringens type C infections
- Clostridium perfringens type D infections
- Malignant oedema⁄gas gangrene group of Clostridium spp.
- Clostridium chauvoei infections
- Clostridium novyi infections
- Clostridium septicum infections
- Other clostridial infections
- Tetanus
- Botulism
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: REGULAR, NON-SPORING, GRAM-POSITIVE RODS
- Listeriosis
- Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae infections
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: IRREGULAR, NON-SPORING, GRAM-POSITIVE RODS
- Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infections
- Corynebacterium renale group infections
- Bolo disease
- Actinomyces bovis infections
- Trueperella pyogenes infections
- Actinobaculum suis infections
- Actinomyces hyovaginalis infections
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: MYCOBACTERIA
- Tuberculosis
- Paratuberculosis
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: ACTINOMYCETES
- Nocardiosis
- Rhodococcus equi infections
- Dermatophilosis
- GENERAL INTRODUCTION: MOLLICUTES
- Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia
- Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia
- Mycoplasmal pneumonia of pigs
- Mycoplasmal polyserositis and arthritis of pigs
- Mycoplasmal arthritis of pigs
- Bovine genital mycoplasmosis
- Neurotoxin-producing group of Clostridium spp.
- Contagious equine metritis
- Tyzzer's disease
- MYCOTIC AND ALGAL DISEASES: Mycoses
- MYCOTIC AND ALGAL DISEASES: Pneumocystosis
- MYCOTIC AND ALGAL DISEASES: Protothecosis and other algal diseases
- DISEASE COMPLEXES / UNKNOWN AETIOLOGY: Epivag
- DISEASE COMPLEXES / UNKNOWN AETIOLOGY: Ulcerative balanoposthitis and vulvovaginitis of sheep
- DISEASE COMPLEXES / UNKNOWN AETIOLOGY: Ill thrift
- Eperythrozoonosis
- Bovine haemobartonellosis
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infections
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NJ Maclachlan and M-L Penrith (Editors). MW Paton, MG Collett and M Pepin, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infections, 2019.

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infections
Previous authors: M W PATON, M G COLLETT, M PÉPIN AND G F BATH
Current authors:
M W PATON - Retired Senior Veterinary Officer, BVSc, MANZCVS, Grad Cert Animal Welfare, PhD, 31 Clipson Mundaring, Western Australia, 6073, Australia
M G COLLETT - Senior Lecturer, BVSc, MMedVet (Path), Med (CAI), School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Private Bag 112222, Palmerston North, Manawatu, 4442, New Zealand
T M ELLIS - Retired Specialist Veterinary Consultant in Microbiology and Pathobiology, BVSc, MSc, 30 St Leonards Street, Mosman Park, Western Australia, 6012, Australia
M PÉPIN - Professor of Microbiology / Immunology and Infectious Diseases, DVM, PhD, VETAGRO SUP / Campus Vétérinaire de Lyon, Marcy-L’Etoile, F-69280, France
Introduction
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis was first described in 1888 by the French veterinarian Edward Nocard, who isolated it from a case of bovine farcy (ulcerative lymphangitis). Three years later the same organism was isolated from a renal abscess in a sheep by the Bulgarian bacteriologist Hugo Von Preïsz,14, 36, 51 hence the original designation ”Preïsz-Nocard” bacillus. Subsequently, it was called Bacillus pseudotuberculosis. The organism was renamed C. ovis in 1923, and in 1948 the name was changed to C. pseudotuberculosis.14, 36
Table 1 Summary of natural infections caused by C. pseudotuberculosis
Species | Specific lesions and diseases | Other |
Ovine and caprine | Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), bacterial icterus | Lymph node and non-lymph node abscesses in the lungs, liver, subcutaneous tissues, kidneys, mammary gland, testis, joints, plus abortion, stillbirth, perinatal death |
Equine | Ulcerative lymphangitis, contagious acne | Folliculitis, furunculosis, pectoral and ventral abdominal abscesses, otitis media-interna, meningitis, abortion, mastitis |
Bovine | Ulcerative lymphangitis | Deep subcutaneous abscesses, mastitis, heel dermatitis |
Water buffalo | Oedematous skin disease | Lymph node abscesses, suppurative lymphangitis |
Other Bovidae (mouflon and bighorn sheep, ibex, various antelope) |
| Subcutaneous and internal abscesses |
Cervidae (deer, elk) |
| Subcutaneous and internal abscesses |
Camelid (camel, alpaca) |
| Superficial and visceral lymphadenitis, mammary abscesses |
Porcine |
| Purulent lymphadenitis |
Erinaceidae (hedgehog) |
| Internal abscesses |
Human |
| Lymphadenitis |
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis causes different conditions and lesions in animals and humans (see Table 1). Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), caused by C. pseudotuberculosis, is a chronic disease of sheep and goats that occurs worldwide wherever small ruminants are farmed. Caseous lymphadenitis characteristically involves superficial or internal lymph nodes. Affected animals may also have non-lymph node abscesses in subcutaneous tissues and/or internal organs. Several other Bovidae species can acquire C. pseudotuberculosis infections, notably cattle (ulcerative lymphangitis) and water buffalo (“oedematous skin disease”), the latter being important in Egypt, the Middle East and South-East Asia. Certain wild Bovidae, Cervidae and even domestic pigs can be infected. Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is also the cause of ulcerative lymphangitis, pectoral abscesses, folliculitis and furunculosis (referred to as "contagious acne"), mastitis and abortion in horses. Pectoral abscesses and contagious acne have only ever been recorded in the Western USA and Canada. Caseous lymphadenitis can be zoonotic and affected people usually acquire infection following contact with sheep or goats.
The nature of CLA is of an insidious disease that is difficult to investigate and control. The research done on vaccine development and epidemiology in Australia has led to significant advances in the understanding and control of CLA. However, because of the non-clinical nature of CLA in most Australian sheep, the greatest challenge for the sheep industry is to convince farmers that they have a problem worth dealing with. The research done into CLA immunopathology in France has made major advances in the understanding of the behaviour of the sheep immune system in response to C. pseudotuberculosis. In the future, this may lead to improved tests and vaccines to fight this organism.
In Africa, UK, Netherlands, Canada, France, USA, South America, the Middle East and Scandinavia researchers and field veterinarians are dealing with outbreaks of CLA in sheep, goats, camelids and other species. In these flocks or herds, the production systems are vastly different from those in Australian sheep, so the epidemiology of CLA can be expected to have some differences. The challenges for those dealing with this disease are to learn from the methods or findings of the research done thus far and apply it to assist in solving the complex problems that C. pseudotuberculosis infection causes in their production systems.
Aetiology
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is a short (0,5 to 0,6 x 1,0 to 3,0 micrometre), irregular, ovoid, non-sporulating, non-capsulated, Gram-positive rod almost resembling a coccus. It is facultatively intracellular and anaerobic. Although non-motile it has fimbriae.71 In smears...
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