| Autor: |
Witherell K; Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., White L; Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.; Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., Shaw L; Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., Tomassini L; Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., Eckstrand C; Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.; Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., Nelson D; Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.; Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., McConnel CS; Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA., Burbick CR; Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.; Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
Postmortem bacterial culture is controversial in human medicine, and veterinary-specific research in this area is lacking. To address this knowledge gap, we cultured liver, kidney, and spleen individually from on-farm calf mortalities to determine the number of bacterial species present, concordance between organ cultures, and agreement with gross and histologic findings. We hypothesized that the spleen, a filtering organ, would be the most useful organ with the least amount of postmortem contamination given that it does not have a direct conduit to a bacterial population. Fresh liver, kidney, and spleen were collected for culture from 30 calves 5-28-d-old with various causes of mortality. Bacterial growth of ≥2 species was observed in ~48% of cultures, with Escherichia coli and Streptococcus spp. being most frequent. One bacterial species was present in 20% of cultures, with E. coli predominating. No growth was observed in ~32% of cultures. In 43% of cases, there was agreement in the culture results for all 3 organs; however, the majority were mixed bacterial growth. The best agreement was observed when there were no gross and/or histologic septic lesions in target organs and no bacterial growth on culture. The spleen was not helpful in determining bacterial significance in comparison to kidney or liver. |
