Pathological and microbiological studies of abortions in cattle and buffaloes

The study was conducted for the investigation of infectious etiology in 30 aborted farm animals particularly bovines, by using different diagnostic tests. The panel of tests included the conventional methods like histopathology, serology, bacterial isolation and advanced molecular techniques, dFAT and PCR. In most of the cases, representative samples were autolysed, which limited the efficiency of conventional techniques. On necropsy examination, generalised congestion of visceral organs, presence of sero-sanguineous fluid in body cavities etc. were the main findings, which microscopically correlated by cellular and vascular reactions. In serology, 5 brucella positive cases were found by both RBPT and STAT. The dFAT for the BHV-1 and BVDV were negative. Genomic identification by PCR using gene specific primers revealed 5 Brucella positive cases, 4 Campylobacter spp cases and 2 cases of mixed infection. Among the above diagnostic techniques, we could find PCR test as a most desirable tool to study spontaneous abortions.