Isolation of obligate anaerobic bacteria from bovine abscesses in sites other than the liver.

A survey in Japan showed that of 2036 slaughtered cattle 58(3%) had abscesses in sites other than the liver. In 21 of the affected animals the lesions were pulmonary and in 32 abdominal (excluding hepatic); in five animals the lesions were found elsewhere (muscle 2, skin 2, bone 1). Nineteen (33%) of the 58 cattle also had abscesses in the liver. Obligate anaerobes alone were isolated from 17(29%) of the affected animals (Fusobacterium necrophorum 14, Bacteroides spp. 2, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius 1). A mixture of obligate anaerobes and aerobes or facultative anaerobes was isolated from 31 affected cattle: of these animals 21 yielded large and five small numbers of F. necrophorum; three yield fusobacteria other than F. necrophorum; and two yielded Propionibacterium acnes. The remaining 10 affected animals yielded only aerobes or facultative anaerobes. The numbers of viable obligate anaerobes in pus specimens were in the range 10(3)-10(9)/ml.