Search

One hundred and forty-seven newborn lambs with congenital defects of the respiratory tract were examined during a 3-year investigation into the causes of perinatal lamb mortality. Respiratory defects were found in 3.3% of the 4,417 lambs examined and in one-third (36.6%) of the 401 congenitally malformed lambs. All the defects were secondary to other more extensive malformations. The upper respiratory tract was involved 3 times more than the lower tract. Males were involved more than females (4:3). The upper tract defects were harelip, cleft palate, atelorrhinia, arrhinia, proboscis, fused nostrils and choanal atresia. One of the facial clefts was a rare median harelip associated with cleft palate and fused nostrils. The lower tract defects were pulmonary agenesis, hypoplasia and duplication. The 2 most common defects were choanal atresia and secondary pulmonary hypoplasia. It was concluded that primary defects of the respiratory tract of sheep are rare and that secondary defects are relatively common.

Sixty-seven defects of the nervous system of lambs were examined during a 3-year investigation. Thirteen (19.4 percent) were single defects, and 54 (80.6 percent) were associated with defects of other body systems. Twice as many male lambs as females were affected. The various defects were: hydrocephalus 15, spina bifida 9, meningocoele 8, perosomus elumbis 8, cyclopia 6, cerebellar agenesis 3, aprosopia 3, cranium bifidum 3, anencephaly 2, cerebellar fusion 2, meningo-encephalocoele 2, congenital ataxia 2, micrencephaly 2, cerebellar hypoplasia 1, and acrania 1. A number of lambs had more than 1 defect of the nervous system. Congenital defects of the nervous system were found in 1.5 percent of the 4,417 lambs autopsied.

A solid-phase, indirect, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was compared with the microtitre complement fixation test for detecting Brucella ovis antibodies in 220 ram sera. The ELISA was more sensitive than the complement fixation test; it demonstrated antibodies in 11 sera from known infected or vaccinated rams that were complement fixation test negative. No false positives were recorded with the ELISA and, in 36 sera positive to both tests, the ELISA titres were consistently higher than the corresponding complement fixation test titres.