Clinical and pathological observations on goats experimentally infected with Pseudomonas pseudomallei

Abstract

The effects in goats of the subcutaneous injection of varying doses of Pseudomonas pseudomallei (90 to 500000 bacilli) suspended in normal saline are described. High doses ( more than or equal to 500 bacilli) caused acute, fatal infections. Lower doses (90 to 225 bacilli) caused acute or chronic disease when infection became established. However, 11 of 18 goats injected with the lower doses of bacilli showed no sign of infection on clinical or bacteriological examination. Response to antibiotic therapy with long acting tetracycline and chloramphenicol was minimum. Goats surviving the initial phase of infection tended to overcome the disease with a corresponding increase in the number of abscesses that were sterile at PM. In infected goats, clinical signs included undulating fever, wasting, anorexia, paresis of the hind legs, severe mastitis and abortion. PM examination revealed abscesses, predominantly in the spleen, lungs, subcutaneous injection site and its draining lymph node.