It was demonstrated that skin wound infection with Histophilus ovis elicits an immune response which can
protect a ram against a challenge injection of the same organism into its epididymis.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. 
Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.am201

Hayes, Marianna

Jansen, B.C.

The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. 
Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.It was demonstrated that skin wound infection with Histophilus ovis elicits an immune response which can
protect a ram against a challenge injection of the same organism into its epididymis.am201

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Onderstepoort J. vet. Res., 51,269-270 (1984) THE ACQUISITION OF IMMUNITY TO HISTOPHILUS OVIS BY SHEEP IN NATURE B. C. JANSEN and MARIANNA HAYES, S.A. Wool Board, P.O. Box 1378, Pretoria 0001 ABSTRACT JANSEN B. C. & HAYES, MARIANNA, 1984. The acquisition of immunity to Histophilus ovis by sheep in nature. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 51, 269-270 (1984) It was demonstrated that skin wound infection with Histophilus ovis elicits an immune response which can protect a ram against a challenge injection of the same organism into its epididymis. INTRODUCTION The occurrence in nature of antibodies in animals has long been known. Gibson (1930) found antibodies against Proteus X 19, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Sal-monella typhi, S. paratyphi A, S. paratyphi B, S. enteri-tidis, Shigella flexneri, Sh. dysenteriae, Proteus mor-gani, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Vi-brio cholerae in sera from the ox, rabbit, guineapig, horse, sheep, pig, rat, cat and man. Lovell (1932, 1934) found flagellar agglutinins against different types of Salmonella in swine, cattle, sheep and horses. He also found somatic agglutinins against some Salmonella types in the sera of pigs, cattle, sheep and horses. The antibodies reported on by the above 2 authors were not induced by immunization, but were the result of contact by the animals with the bacteria in their environ-ment. Natural exposure of animals to infective material may have an immunizing effect on them. Cunningham (1977) states that non-pregnant heifers, exposed to infection in nature by the conjunctival or oral route to Brucella abor-tus, usually show a temporary antibody response, but about 90 per cent of them become immune. Only a small percentage progress to active infection and persisting positive titres. In this article evidence is presented to show that Histo-philus ovis, entering the body of rams through skin wounds, can elicit an immune response which protects them against a challenge injection of the same organism into the epididymis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental animals Fifteen-month-old Merino rams, kept intensively on regularly cleaned floors, were tested for freedom from bacterial infection of their genitalia with semen obtained through electro-ejaculation in as sterile a manner as pos-sible. Cultures were prepared from the semen, and the rams that were found free from bacterial infection of their genital tract were used for the experiment. The controls were selected from a group of 12 rams, 6 of which had been subjected to Mules' operation as lambs. At that stage no connection between Mules' ope-ration and resistance to H. ovis infection had been sur-mised. Artificial infection of rams H. ovis (Strain 0782*) was grown on 10 % horse blood tryptose-agar** for 48 h in 10 % C02 at 37 °C, whereafter the growth was washed off with sterile Hank's balanced salt solution to give a milky white sus-pension. The wool was shorn from a patch of skin on the side of the body of the rams. Five cuts 50 mm long were made close to each other through the bare skin. The bacterial suspension was lightly rubbed into the cuts and the rams * Obtained from Dr E. M. van Tonder, Veterinary Investigation Centre , Middelburg 5900 ** Biolab Chemicals, 4 Bernard Str. , Colbyn, Pretoria 0083 Received 7 September 1984--Editor 269 were left for 3 weeks until challenged. Four rams were infected while 2 were kept as controls in a widely sepa-rated camp to avoid contact with the infective organisms. Challenge procedure The bacteria from a 24 h culture of H. ovis were washed from the surface of the medium in Petri dishes, using Hank's balanced salt solution, and the suspension was diluted so that a challenge dose contained about 0,5 X 106 organisms in 0,05 m€. The rams were challenged by injecting the challenge dose directly into the tissue of the cauda epididymidis through the scrotal skin (Jansen & Hayes, 1984). Ten days after challenge the rams were killed and their entire genital tract was removed and transferred to the labora-tory for the preparation of bacterial cultures from the component parts. RESULTS Immunity in rams previously subjected to Mules' opera-tion When 2 of the rams that had been subjected to Mules' operation were used as controls, neither developed epidi-dymitis. As a result of this finding the remaining 4 in this category were also challenged with the same results. Subsequently 2 of the 6 in the group that had not had the Mules' operation were challenged. Both developed severe epididymitis and orchitis. Immunity subsequent to artificial infection Of the 4 rams artificially infected 3 weeks prior to challenge, 3 did not show any clinical reaction to the challenge, and their tissues appeared normal at necropsy. No H . ovis could be cultured from their genitalia. One of the 4 and the 2 further control rams from the group that had not had the Mules' operation showed severe purulent epididymitis and orchitis from which H. ovis could be cultured. DISCUSSION H . ovis is an organism frequently associated with sheep and is responsible for a variety of pathological processes such as acute mastitis (Roberts, 1956), epidi-dymitis in rams (Dodd & Hartley, 1955; Claxton & Ev-erett, 1966; Ekdahl, Money & Martin, 1968; Webb, 1983), systemic or localized infections in young lambs (Kater, Marshall & Hartley, 1962; Hughes, Hartley, Haughey & McFarlane, 1964; Dennis, 1974; Rahaley & White, 1977; Webb, 1983) and mastitis and abortion in ewes (Webb, 1983). No definite information is available on where the or-ganism is harboured in its association with sheep, but it must be assumed that any skin wound will be exposed to contamination with H . ovis . The ability of H. ovis to survive for up to 4 days in wet manure or pen floor debris (Jansen, 1983) increases the likelihood of fresh wounds becoming infected while sheep are lying down. Woolled sheep are subjected to wounding during castration, dock-ing, shearing and the performance of Mules' operation, and during all these procedures they are collected in pens. It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that the THE ACQUISITION OF IMMUNITY TO HISTOPHILUS OVIS BY SHEEP IN NATURE wounds frequently become contaminated with H. ovis under such conditions. The experiments reported on in this publication have demonstrated that such contami-nation can render rams immune to challenge with this pathogen. Why some sheep should become immune and others develop systemic disease as a result of their con-tact with H. ovis is not yet clear. The fact that woolled sheep are exposed to more wounding than non-woolled sheep could explain Van Tonder' s (1979) observation that lesions of the scrotal contents caused by Actinobacillus seminis (which in-cludes H. ovis) occurred in 5,7 % of Dorper rams as against 2,1 % of Merino rams in the sheep population examined by him. The possibility that sheep can be rendered immune to an infection by H. ovis in the manner carried out in these experiments lends support to efforts at immunizing sheep with antigens prepared from this organism. REFERENCES CLAXTON, P. D. & EVERETI, R. E. , 1966. Recovery of an orga-nism resembling Histophilus avis from a ram. Australian Veterinary Journal, 42,457-458. CUNNINGHAM, B., 1977. Experiences with strain 45/20 vaccines in Ireland. Chapter in R. P. CRAWFORD & R. J. HIDALGO (eds): Bovine brucellosis. An international symposium. College station: Texas A & M University Press. DENNIS , S.M., 1974. Perinatal lamb mortality in Western Australia 3. Congenital infections. Australian Veterinary Journal, 11, 507- 510. DODD, D. C. & HARTLEY, W. J. , 1955. A specific suppurative epididymitis of rams. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 3, 105- 110. EKDAHL, M. 0., MONEY, D. F. L. & MARTIN, C. A., 1968. Some aspects of epididymitis of rams in New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal , 16,81-82. GIBSON, H. J., 1930. Observations on the occurrence, characteristics and specificity of natural agglutinins. Journal of Hygiene (Cam-bridge) , 30, 337-356. HUGHES , K. L., HARTLEY, W. J., HAUGHEY, K. C. & McFAR-LANE, D. , 1964. A study of perinatal mortality of lambs from the Aberon, Orange and Monaro districts of N.S.W. Proceedings of the Australian Society for Animal Production, 5, 92-99. JANSEN , B. C .. 1983. The epidemiology of bacterial infection of the genitalia in rams. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 50, 275-282. JANSEN, B. C. & HAYES, MARIANNA, 1984. Immunity against genital infection by Histophilus avis in rams. Onderstepoort Journal ofVeterinary Research, 51, 203-207. KATER, JOAN, C., MARSHALL, S.C. & HARTLEY, W. J., 1962. A specific suppurative synovitis and pyaemia in lambs. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 10, 143- 144. LOVELL, R., 1932. The presence of agglutinins for bacteria of the Salmonella group in the sera of normal animals. Journal of Compar-ative Pathology, 45, 27-42. LOVELL, R., 1934. The presence and significance of agglutinins for some members of the Salmonella groups occurring in the sera of normal animals. Journal of Comparative Pathology, 45 , 27-42. RAHALEY, R. S. & WHITE W. E., 1977. Histophilus avis infection in sheep in Western Victoria. Australian Veterinary Journal, 53 , 124-127. ROBERTS , D. S., 1956. A new pathogen from an ewe with mastitis. Australian Veterinary Journal, 32, 220--332. VAN TONDER, E. M., 1979. Actinobacillus seminis infection in sheep in South Africa. II . Incidence and geographical distribution. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research , 46, 135-140. WEBB , R. F., 1983. Clinical findings and pathological changes in Histophilus avis infections of sheep. Research in Veterinary Science, 35, 30--34. Printed by the Government Printer, Private Bag X85 , Pretoria, 000 1 270 

The acquisition of immunity to Histophilus ovis by sheep in nature

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The acquisition of immunity to Histophilus ovis by sheep in nature

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