Abortion

A.  History

  • Provide information on herd/flock size, numbers of pregnant animals, number of abortions/stillbirths/weak neonates, and clinical signs, parity and stage of gestation, and vaccination status of the dam.

B.  Selecting and submitting samples:

  • Submission of placenta as well as the entire fetus(s) improves the likelihood of obtaining an etiologic diagnosis.
  • If submitting samples from in-clinic postmortem examination, request specific tests, and submit separate tissue samples in INDIVIDUAL labelled Whir-Pak bags for each lab section and test requested.
  • Mummified fetuses are usually not suitable for testing, except for porcine parvovirus and Toxoplasma.
  • If multiple fetusus/placentas, please indicate if from separate dams and submit accordingly.

C.  Samples required:

Swine abortion

Note: Submission of weak, live neonates and maternal serum samples is more useful than submission of dead aborted or stillborn littermates (particularly for detection of PRRSV).  If possible, submit several fetuses, as agent and/or lesions may not be present in all fetuses.

Lab Tests

Specimen type/volume

Collection protocol
Bacteriology
  • Bacterial culture, abortion case (bcabo)
  • placenta, lung, stomach content (1-2mL)
Histology
  • Histology food (hist)
  • Immunohistochemistry is available on formalin-fixed tissues for PRRSV, PCV-1,2,3, Leptospira

Formalin fixed:

  • placenta

Fetal tissues:

  • eyelid, skeletal muscle, thyroid gland, thymus, lung, heart, liver, kidney, adrenal gland, spleen, jejunum, spiral colon (with meconium), brain
Serology
  • PRRSV ELISA (prrx3)
  • PPV HI (xppvhi)
  • Leptospira MAT (leptmatf)
  • serum from aborting sows
  • paired serum from aborting sows
  • fetal thoracic fluid
  • serum from 3-5 aborting/affected sows and an equal number of unaffected cohorts is useful for diagnosing Leptospira-associated abortions
  • paired serum not essential
Virology
  • PRRSV PCR (prtqn)
  • PCV-1,2,3 PCR (pcv123)
  • PPV PCR (ppvrt)
  • fetal thoracic fluid, lung
  • serum from aborting sows
  • frozen lung (from mummified fetuses <16cm)

Bovine abortion

Lab Tests

Specimen type/volume

Collection protocol
Bacteriology
  • Bacterial culture, abortion case (bcabo)
  • placenta, lung, abomasal fluid (1-2 mL)
Histology
  • Histology food (hist)
  • Immunohistochemistry is available on formalin-fixed tissues for BVDV, BoHv-1 (IBRV), Leptospira

Formalin fixed:

  • placenta with cotyledon 

Fetal tissues:

  • eyelid, skeletal muscle, thyroid gland, thymus, lung, heart, liver, kidney, adrenal gland, spleen, jejunum, spiral colon (with meconium), brain
Molecular Biology
  • Ureaplasma PCR (UreaPCR)
  • +/- Ureaplasma culture (mculf)
  • placenta, lung, abomasal fluid
Serology
  • BVDV, IBRV, Leptospira PCR (bvdrt, ibrrt, leptpcr)
  • Neospora (neo)
  • Leptospira MAT (leptmatf)
  • paired serum from dam
  • acute serum from dam
  • fetal thoracic fluid
Virology
  • Bovine abortion panel PCR (boabopc)
    • BoHV-1/IBRV
    • Leptospira
    • Neospora caninum
  • Bovine viral diarrhea virus/Bovine adenovirus/Bovine coronavirus PCR (bvdadco)
  • placenta, kidney, liver, spleen (pooled)
  • fetal thoracic fluid also suitable for BVDV PCR

Sheep/goat abortion

Lab Tests

Specimen type/volume 

Collection protocol
Bacteriology
  • Bacterial culture, abortion case (bcabo)
  • placenta, lung, abomasal fluid (1-2mL)
Histology
  • Histology, food animal (hist)
  • Immunohistochemistry is available on formalin-fixed tissues for Toxoplasma and BVDV/BDV

Formalin fixed:

  • placenta with cotyledon 

Fetal tissues: 

  • eyelid, skeletal muscle, thyroid gland, thymus, lung, heart, liver, kidney, adrenal gland, spleen, jejunum, spiral colon (with meconium), brain

 
Molecular Biology
  • Chalmydia abortus PCR and Coxiella burnetii PCR (cacbpcr)
  • Toxoplasma gondii PCR (toxopc)
  • placenta
Serology
  • Cache Valley virus VN (xcache)
  • Toxoplasma (send out)
  • fetal thoracic fluid
  • serum from dam

Equine abortion

Lab Tests Specimen type/volume Collection protocol
Bacteriology
  • Bacterial culture, abortion case (bcabo)
  • lung, stomach content, placenta
Histology
  • Histopathology, equine abortion (histcm1)
  • IHC, Equid herpesvirus 1 (ehvi)
  • IHC, Leptospira spp. (lepti)

Formalin fixed:

  • placenta and cervical star

Fetal tissues:

  • eyelid, skeletal muscle, thyroid gland, thymus, lung, heart, liver, kidney, adrenal gland, spleen, jejunum, colon with meconium, brain
Molecular Biology
  • Potomac horse fever PCR (phfpc)
  • liver, lung, placenta, spleen
Serology
  • Equine arteritis virus VN (xeavvn)
  • Serology is not diagnostic for equine herpesvirus abortion
  • serum
Virology
  • Equid herpesvirus 1 PCR (ehv12)
  • Equine arteritis virus PCR (eavrt)
  • fetal thoracic fluid or lung
  • liver, spleen, kidney, placenta

 

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