Insights into potential pathogenesis mechanisms associated with Campylobacter jejuni-induced abortion in ewes

Table 1 Summary of clinical observations and bacteriological studies

Groups	Control		Group1 (G1)				Group2 (G2)				Group3 (G3)
Animals no.	1	2	G1-O-1	G1-O-2	G1-V-1	G1-V-2	G2-O-1	G2-O-2	G2-V-1	G2-V-2	G3-O-1	G3-O-2	G3-V-1	G3-V-2
Strain used for inoculation	None (sterile saline)		81-176				Bovine abortion C. jejuni				Ovine abortion *C. jejuni*
Status	Normal delivery	Normal delivery	Normal delivery	Normal delivery	Normal delivery	Normal delivery	Delivered twins	Normal delivery	Stillbirth	Stillbirth	Stillbirth	Abortion	Died 20 h pi	Normal^a delivery
Occurrence of abortion or delivery post inoculation	6 weeks	7 weeks	6 weeks	6 weeks	4 weeks	7 weeks	5 weeks	7 weeks	4 weeks	3 weeks	6 weeks	2 weeks	--	6 weeks
Liver	-	-	-	-	+++	+	-	-	+++	+++	-	+++	+	-
Spleen	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-	+++	+	-
Kidney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	++	+	-
Blood	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	-
S. Intestine	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	+++	++	+++	+++	++	- (highly congested)	-
Feces	-	-	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
Lung	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+++	+ (hydrothorax)	-
Placenta	-	-	-	-	+	-	+	-	1 × 10⁷	4 × 10⁷	2 × 10⁶	2 × 10⁸	-	-
Uterus	-	-	-	-	+	-	+	+	5 × 10⁶	1 × 10⁷	4 × 10⁵	3 × 10⁷	-	-
Colostrum	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	+	+++	N/A	-
Placental fluids	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+++	+++	+	+++	-	-
Fetal fluids	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+++	+++	+	+++	-	-
Fetal Liver	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+++	+++	-	+	N/A	-
Fetal Lung	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+++	+++	-	+	N/A	-
Fetal S. Intestine	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	+++	+++	+++	+	N/A	-
Fetal meconium	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	N/A	-

+ = (mild growth: less than 100 CFU), ++ = (moderate growth: less than 300 CFU), +++ = (heavy growth: too many to count), - = (No Growth), N/A, Not applicable; ^aEwe (G3-V-2) no C. jejuni was isolated from any tissues; however, at postmortem this ewe was found to be heavily infested with tapeworm.