Table Comparing Microorganisms of Veterinary Significance

 

Organism

Species effected

Disease(s) caused

Human

Path.

Comments

Staphylococcus aureus

 Various species

 

 

 

 

 

Cattle, sheep, goats, swine:  Mastitis, can be acute, most often chronic and subclinical, Botryomycosis (chronic granulomatous lesions of udders of cows and sows), Impetigo on sows’ udders after piglet bites

Young birds: Bumble foot (subcutaneous abscesses of feet)

Horses: Botryomycosis (infection of spermatic cord after castration; also granulomatous lesions in udder of mares), Otitis externa (inflammation of outer ear canal), Skin and subcutaneous infections, can lead to abscesses, Urinary infections

Rabbits: Skin infections

Turkeys: Arthritis and septicemia

 X

In humans, can cause food poisoning, skin infections, osteomyelitis, pneumonia, impetigo, nosocomial infections

St. epidermidis

 Various species

Low grade bovine mastitis

Suture and wound abscesses in many species

 X

 Normal skin flora on humans, can cause nosocomial infections, especially on invasive equipment (IV lines, artificial heart valves)

 St. intermedius

 Various species

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dogs

 Part of normal flora the nasopharynx and skin of dogs, raccoons, foxes and mink.

Recovered from cultures from other species many times significance of cultures unknown (cats, cattle, horses and pigeons)

Mastitis in cattle

Mastitis, pyoderma, otitis externa, eye infections, urinary tract infections, folliculitis and furunculosis

 

 

St. hyicus

 Swine

 

 

 

 

Various species

 Polyarthritis and "greasy pig disease" (exudative epidermitis) Highly contagious. Varies in severity. Also causes septic arthritis and abortion.

Cattle: Skin and udder infections

Pygmy goat: seborrheic dermatitis

Donkeys & horses: dermatitis

 

 

 

 Streptococcus agalactiae

 Cattle

Dogs

Cats

 Mastitis

Neonatal septicemia

 Kidney and urinary tract infections

 X

 

 

Str. uberis

 Cattle

 Mastitis (less common than Str. agalactiae or St. aureus)

 

 

 

 Str. dysgalactiae

 Cattle

Lambs

 Minor cause of mastitis

Polyarthritis

 

 

 

Str. equi

 Horses

 Strangles (infection of lymph nodes in throat region). More common in young animals, also udder and genital infections

 

 

 

 Str. zooepidemicus

 Horses

 

 

 

 

Many species

 Polyarthritis in young foals through infection of the umbilicus. Also wound infections and infections of the cervix and uterus in mares, epididymitis in stallions.

Cattle: Mastitis, cervicitis metritis

Swine: arthritis, abortion, septicemia

Lambs: pleuritis, pericarditis pneumonia

Goats: mastitis

Chickens: fatal septicemia

 

 

 

Str. suis

 Swine

 Lymphadenitis of cervical lymph nodes, meningitis, arthritis, pneumonia; abortion in sows

 

 

 

 Str. equisimilis

 Swine

 

Horses

 Swelling of joints in 1 to 3 week old piglets

Strangles, wound infections, genital infections, mastitis

 Rare

 

 

Str. porcinus

 Swine

 Abscesses of madibular, pharyngeal and lymph nodes

 

 

 

 Str. bovis

 Ruminants

 Lactic acidosis and other gastric disorders

 X

 Endocarditis, meningitis & sepsis in humans

 

 Str. pneumoniae

 Cattle

 Bronchopneumonia or meningitis in calves, mastitis in cows

 X

 Primarily a human pathogen.

 

 Enterococcus faecalis

Many species

 Endocarditis, mastitis

 X

 Wound, urine infections, septicemia in humans. Common inhab of intestinal tract of animals and humans

 

 Gram Positive Rods

 

 

 

 

 

 Bacillus anthracis

Cattle, sheep, swine, horses, dogs

 Anthrax; a severe respiratory infection with bloody discharge from body openings. In swine causes acute pharyngitis (inflammation of the throat)

 X

Very severe human pathogen, can be fatal. Do not open carcass of infected/suspected animal. Diagnosis from blood from ear vein.

Clostridium chauvoei

Sheep, cattle, goats

 Blackleg (fever and lameness, followed by swelling over the region of heavy muscles. Mortality nearly 100%. Wound infection results with necrotic tissue, dry, dark with gas bubbles and rancid odor.

 

 Found in livers, intestines and normal tissues of healthy dogs and cattle.

Enters by injestion or is endogenous, carried to tissues in bloodstream

 Cl. septicum

Cattle, sheep, swine and horses

 Malignant edema (extensive tissue swelling causing stiffness and lameness, death 24-48 hours)

 X

Transmitted: by exposure of wounds to soil or fecally contaminated material

Cl. hemolyticum

 Cattle, sheep

 Bacillary hemoglobinuria or red water disease (anemia, high fever, abdominal pain, enlarged liver, bile stained feces and red urine. Liver flukes thought to predispose to this disease. Animals ingest contaminated water, infection spreads through bloodstream

 X

 Worldwide associated with liver flukes. In US, sound in mountain valleys of Nevada, Montana & other western states and along Gulf of Mexico

 Cl. novyi

 Cattle, sheep, water buffalo

 Black disease (abdominal pain, reluctance to move, enlarged liver and inner surface of skin darkened by blood-stained edema). Also "big head" in rams: edema of head and neck. Traumatic injury from butting allows organism to enter subcutaneous tissues on head.

 X

 Associated with liver flukes worldwide

Gas gangrene in humans

Osteomyelitis in water buffaloes in Indonesia

 Cl. perfringens

 Dogs

Dogs: Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis

Lambs: Dysentery during first 2 weeks of life

Calves and piglets, lambs & foals: Hemorrhagic enteritis in neonatal animals

Sheep & goats: Overeating disease; feedlot sheep eat grain contaminated with this organism and absorb the toxin, dying quickly. Also causes their kidneys to become pulpy and decomposed.

Fowl: necrotic enteritis and gangrenous dermatitis

 X

Common inhabitant in soil, air, dust and manure. Is normal inhabitant of intestinal tracts of many animals and humans.  Found in water of lakes, streams and rivers. Has been found as contaminant in many types of commercially prepared foods. Causes gas gangrene in wounds.

Causes gas gangrene and food poisoning in humans

 Cl. tetani

 Horses

 Lockjaw; disease caused by toxin produced by the organism. Rigid stance (sawhorse stance) with ears and tail rigid, paralysis of jaw muscles, death from respiratory failure. Hoof infections

 X

 Major cause of human gas gangrene and lockjaw. Cattle and sheep also susceptible to wound infections; rare in dogs and cats. Poulty resistant

Cl. botulinum

 Many species including humans:

 

 

Horses

Ducks, chickens, turtles, wild birds, cattle & sheep

 Causes botulism: progressive muscle paralysis, animals and humans die of respiratory failure. Animals infected by eating contaminated food sources (some species affected: dogs, sheep chickens, turtles, cattle)

Shaker foal syndrome; foals shake when standing and fall to ground

Limberneck; paralysis of neck and extemities after eating contaminated food: rotting vegetation or spoiled hay, oats or silage

 X

 Extremely potent neurotoxin (1 mg lethal for 120 mice, less than 1 microgram lethal for 1 human)

  Listeria monocytogenes

 Many species

Cattle & sheep: Listeriosis or circling disease; animal crowds into a corner or walks in circles with neck held to one side. Progresses to paralysis of limbs. Abortions in cows and ewes. Also meningitis

Horses: Acute septicemia in foals

Cows, sheep: abortion, encephalitis (occasionally in horses and dogs)

Rabbits, pigs, lambs, racoons: liver necrosis

Fowl: septicemia, necrotic liver as focus of infection

 X

Can cause abortion in humans after injestion of contaminated food (commonly dairy products or soft cheeses). Other human disease includes meningitis, encephalitis and septicemia. Frequently opportunistic

Found in feces, genital secretions and nasal passages of many animals and in silage. Some believe it is soil inhabitant.

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

 Many species

Swine: Erysipelas occurs in three forms: acute septicemia in suckling pigs with sudden death; diamond skin disease with various sized plaques on the abdomen, ears and snout or endocarditis or polyarthritis following acute infection.

Sheep and calves: post-dipping laminitis, polyarthritis. Organism enters through wounds or nonhealed umbilicus

Fowl: septicemia, important economic disease in flocks

Dogs: endocarditis

Cattle: polyserositis, arthritis and septicemia

 X

 Causes erysipeloid in humans, a localized wound infection on hand or fingers. Infection generally lasts appx 3 weeks. Painful edematous swelling at site of infection. Can progress to septicemia, endocarditis, or septic arthritis.

Veterinary workers, butchers, packing house workers, fish handlers and cooks at greatest risk of exposure.  

Infection results when cuts on hands are exposed to skin of an infected animal

Actinomyces (Corynebacterium) pyogenes

 Cattle, sheep, goats and swine

Secondary abscesses following trauma to tissues. Pneumonia. Metritis, liver abscesses, endocarditis and mastitis in cattle.

 

 

 Corynebacterium renale

 Cattle, swine

Cattle: Cystitis, renal abscess, pylonephritis, higher incidence in females near parturition.

Swine: kidney abscesses

 

 

 Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis

Sheep, goats, horses, mules, lambs

 Caseous lymphadentits of superficial lymph nodes occurring in arid regions of the country. Chronic lymphadentitis in wild ruminants and camels, rarely in cattle. Folliliculitis and pectoral abscesses in horses, purulent arthritis in lambs

 

Occasional human infections consisting of subacute or chronic lymphadenitis

Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi

Horses

Horses: Infectious pneumonia in foals with lesions in abdominal wall & cervical lymph nodes. Occasional abortion in mares. Subcutaneous abscesses, necrotizing enterocolitis in foals

Cats: subcutaneous abscesses from traumatic injuries

Swine: abscesses of the lungs and lymph nodes

 

 

 Gram Negative Rods

 

 

 

 

 Escherichia coli (E. coli)

 Many species

Cattle: Infectious colibacillosis of neonatal calves. Calf scours: diarrhea of calves less than 2 weeks old. Mastitis

Swine: Diarrhea of piglets or piglet scours. Colibacillosis of weanling pigs 8-12 weeks old causing edema, hind leg paralysis and death

Sheep: Colibacillosis of lambs in two forms: septicemia and collapse in lambs 2-3 weeks old; second form similar to calf scours

Chickens and turkeys: acute septicemia, granulomatous lesions of intestine

Lambs: diarrhea similar to calves and piglets.

Other species: urinary tract infection and diarrhea in dogs and puppies; abortions & metritis in mares, enteritis in foals, enteritis in rabbits

 X

 Mastitis in cattle a serious problem, possibly due to close confinement during winter months and eradication of other mastitis pathogens from cows’ udders.

Causes many human infections from urinary tract & wound infections to sepsis.

 Salmonella

 Many species

Cattle: Septicemia in neonatal calves and enteric form of disease in older calves. May cause abortion.

Horses: Navel infections, septicemia or polyarthritis in foals, abortion in later stages in mares.

Poultry: Two forms of diarrhea.

Cats & dogs: Acute septicemia and gastroenteritis in puppies & kittens esp. in crowded living conditions

Swine: Enteritis, septicemia and pneumonia. Swine serve as another reservoir of Salmonella

 X

Poultry is a major reservior of Salmonella. All fowl (wild and domestic) are probably carriers of this organism. Causes self limited diarrheal disease in humans through injestion of contaminated food.

 Klebsiella species

 Many species

Horses: Metritis and abortion; pneumonia and suppurative infections in foals

Cattle: Mastitis indistinguishable from E. coli except by culture

Dogs: urinary infections, septicemia & pneumonia

 X

Causes a wide range of human infections from urinary tract infections to pneumonia and septicemia

 Arizona species

 Turkeys

 Diarrheal disease

X

 Causes enteritis in humans

 Proteus species

 Many species

 Dogs & ponies: cystitis & urinary infections; rarely ear infections in dogs and cats

Diarrheal infections in young minks, lambs, goats, calves and puppies

 X

 Mainly opportunistic infections in humans: urinary infections, occasionally wound infections

Pasteurella hemolytica

Cattle

 Pneumonic pasteurellosis or shipping fever: fever, anorexia, shortness of breath, pneumonia following transport, dehorning, castration, and weaning or adverse weather conditions.

 

 

Pasteurella multocida

Many species

 Cattle: Pneumonia which may range from acute to chronic in nature

Dogs and cats: Normal flora in mouth. Becomes human pathogen after bite from dog or cat.

Poultry: Fowl cholera: enteritis, chronic arthritis and wound infection, low grade respiratory infection

Rabbits: Snuffles; pneumonia and upper respiratory infections

Swine: Swine plague as a complication of viral pneumonia

 X

 Wound infections in humans resulting from dog or cat bites. Part of normal respiratory flora in cats and swine

 Haemophilus somnus

(also spelled Hemophilus)

 Cattle

Infectious thromboembolic meningoencephalitis in feedlot cattle: staggering gait and hemorrhages in retina. If neurologic signs develop, the disease is too advanced for treatment. Also can cause respiratory infections, arthritis and reproductive failure.

 

 

H. suis and H. parasuis

 Swine

Glasser’s disease in young pigs (fever, anorexia, dyspnea and polyarthritis). Common in Europe.

 

 

H. gallinarum

 Fowl

 Coryza: nasal discharge, sneezing, facial swelling.

 

 

Actinobacillus (Hemophilus) pleuropneumoniae

Swine

Pleuropneumonia and septicemia in swine, the most common swine infection in Canada

 

 

Taylorella equigenitalis

Horses & ponies

Highly contagious venereal disease resulting in reduced fertility, cervicitis, metritis and abortion in mares.

 

Spread venereally or through contaminated equipment or hands

Actinobacillus ligniersii

Cattle

Wooden tongue; also affects head, pharynx and hard palate

Less frequently: sheep, pigs, dogs and humans with similar infections

 

 

A. equuli

Horses & swine

Horses: Septicemia, purulent infection of joints and kidneys. Foals may become infected at birth, through placenta or umbilicus. Sometimes incorrectly called shigellosis.

Swine: septic arthritis, endocardidis, suppurative nephritis, septicemia and mastitis

 

 

A. pleuropneumoniae

Swine

Swine pleuropneumonia: an acute or chronic disease of swine which is of great economic importance. Mortality rates high in newly infected animals

 

 

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

 Many species

All animals, including humans: wound infections abscesses, diarrhea, ear, urinary and genital infections, nosocomial pathogen

Dogs & cats: Urinary and ear infections, endocarditis, dermatitis, post-operative septicemia

Cattle: Mastitis, traumatic pericarditis, granuloma of skin and abortion

Horses: Corneal infections, abortion & reproductive problems

Swine: Necrotic rhinitis and pneumonia

Sheep: Green wool disease

Minks and Chinchilla: hemorrhagic pneumonia

Fowl: septicemia and respiratory infections

 X

 

Brucella abortus, B. melitensis and B. canis

 Many species

Cattle: Brucellosis or Bang’s disease: abortion at 5-6 months. After abortion, the cows act as carriers through their milk and vaginal membranes. Can localize in testicles, epididymis or seminal vesicles in bulls. Transmission through ingestion of food water or milk contaminated with uterine discharges, urine or feces from infected animal, by penetration of the skin or venereally transmitted.

Swine: Uncommon infection in more generalized but similar illnesses

Dogs: Abortion in last trimester, chronic osteomyelitis, diskospondylisis, prostatitis, epididymitis

Goats: Abortion

 X

Brucellosis is a disease of great economic importance; Canada and U.S. have spent large sums of money to eradicate it. Modified live vaccine 70% effective.

Widely spread through dog population but incidence of disease low.

Human infection ranges from mild to severe in veterinary and microbiology lab personnel, obstetric workers in the dairy industry, slaughterhouse workers and through contaminated milk. Disease states include septicemia, undulating fever, localization in liver, lymph nodes or bones.

Bordatella bronchiseptica

Dogs, swine, cats, rabbits

 Dogs: Bronchopneumonia or kennel cough

Swine: atrophic rhinitis

Cats: subclinical respiratory disease

Rabbits:  snuffles

  X

Immunocompetent humans can develop pneumonia after close association with rabbits  

Francisella tularensis

Sheep, rabbits and other wild animals  

Domestic cats

Tularemia: fever, elevated respiratory rates  

Domestic cats can develop fever, anorexia, abscesses and lymph node involvement

 X

 May be transmitted in wild through insect vectors. Human form commonly ulceroglandular with development of papules, ulcers and lymph node enlargement. May become systemic. Highly contagious, use biocontainment methods in labs

 Moraxella bovis

 Cattle

 Bovine keratoconjunctivitis: acute form is pink eye, can evolve to chronic form of corneal ulceration.

 X

 Transmissible to humans; wash hands well before touching eyes.

 Fusobacterium necrophorum

 Many species

Cattle: Calf diphtheria: invades tissues of mouth, cheeks, gums and tongue causing brown necrotic areas covered with membrane, may progress to ulcers, laryngitis characterized by loud wheezing.

Cattle & sheep: Foot rot: affects connective tissue; infected foot becomes swollen, hot and painful with necrotic areas between digits. Liver abscesses of the rumen wall after inflammation. Organism migrates via bloodstream to liver to cause abscesses.

Sheep: lip and leg ulcerations

Goats: ulcerative stomatitis

Swine: "bullnose" suppurative necrotic infection of nose and face following traumatic injury

Horses: Gangrenous dermatitis of lower extremeties after prolonged exposure to damp muddy conditions. Rarely causes pneumonia and septicemia."

Fowl: avian diphtheria, secondarily invades after fowl pox virus lesions

 X

 Can cause variety of human infections including abscesses, thrombophlebitis and oral lesions.

Bacteroides nodosus

Sheep, goats and cattle

Contagious foot rot: weight loss and lameness. Extremely contagious through discharge from infected lesions. Associated with Fusobacterium necrophorum infections

 X

 Can cause human abscesses, peritonitis and post-operative infections

 B. melaninogenicus

 Many species

 Infections including peritonitis, pericarditis, suppurative arthritis and pneumonia

 X

 Can cause human abscesses, peritonitis and post-operative infections

Campylobacter fetus ss venerealis

 Cattle, sheep

 Abortion, irregular heat cycles and infertility in females; males exhibit no signs of infection.

 

 

Campylobacter fetus ss fetus

 Cattle, sheep, goats

Cattle & goats: Abortion usually in last trimester.

Sheep: abortions, oral infections

 X

May also cause abortion and undulant fever like disease in humans.

Campylobacter fetus ss jejuni

 Cattle, dogs, swine

 Dysentery of cattle, young dogs and piglets  

Kittens and puppies less than 6 months old can develop dysentery of 1-3 weeks duration, associated with stress

 X

 Human pathogen causing self limiting diarrheal disease from improperly prepared or contaminated food, undercooked poultry or raw milk.  Responsible for over 2 million cases of gastroenteritis/year

 Actinomyces bovis

 Cattle, swine

Cattle: Actinomycosis or lumpy jaw: abscesses, granulomas, loose teeth and fistulous tracts. Can also cause mastitis, orchitis, liver lesions.

Swine: liver abscesses, chronic mastitis

 

X

 

In humans the organism may cause lesions in head, neck, face, lungs, breast and lymph nodes

Dermatophilus congolensis

 Horses, cattle & sheep

Horses & cattle: Acute or chronic dermatitis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, primarily of back and heels. Hair is matted as if painted. If scab is removed, area underneath is moist and may have exudate.

Sheep: dermatitis causing "lumpy wool" may also affect lower legs causing strawberry foot rot.

 

 Can produce disease in humans in subcutaneous tissues and lymph nodes possibly through puncture wounds

 Nocardia asteroides

 Dogs and cats

Dogs & cats: Systemic: fever, soreness, dyspnea, swollen abdomen and lymphadenitis resembling tuberculosis. Local superficial infections may rupture causing fistulas.

Cattle: acute or chronic mastitis

 X

Can cause human infections ranging from those in subcutaneous tissues to pneumonia

Mycobacterium bovis

Cattle, goats, swine, sheep & deer  

Rarely dogs, cats & horses

Chronic disease of lesions in lungs and lymph nodes of head and thorax. Calves fed infected milk develop lesions in abdominal cavity. Transmission in cattle by respiratory droplets.  1-2% of infected cows develop mycobacterial mastitis with shedding of organism in milk.

 X

 Humans can develop infection of viscera and bones, primarily from ingestion of contaminated milk.  

Badgers may be reservoirs of M. bovis in Unitied States.

Control methods include pasteurization of milk, random TB tests in cattle, check of slaughtered animals with traceback for M. bovis infection.

 M. avium

 Chickens, domestic birds, swine

Avian disease develops in crowded living conditions, granulomas with caseation

Swine disease occurs in lymph nodes in the head

Sporadic cases in horses, dogs & cats

 X

 Can cause respiratory infections which can be severe in immunocompromised individuals (HIV+)

 M. tuberculosis

 Many species although the disease is primarily human

 Caseated granulomatous lesions of lungs and lymph nodes. The following species can also become infected: cattle, swine, parrots, dogs, guinea pigs, mice & elephants

 X

 Serious human pathogen on the rise since the mid 1980s.  Estimated one third of world's human population have been infected, 2-3 million deaths worldwide per year

 M. paratuberculosis

 Cattle, sheep and goats

 Johne’s disease: weight loss and chronic diarrhea with decrease in milk production.

 

 

Mycoplasma mycoides ssp mycoides and capri

 Cattle, goats

 Cattle: Contagious pleuropneumonia

Goats: polyarthritis, mastitis, septicemia, pneumonia

 

 

Mycoplasma agalactiae

 Sheep and cattle

 Contagious agalactiae (bacteremia then localization & inflammation of udder, uterus, eyes and arthritis).

 

 

Mycoplasma bovis

 Cattle

 Severe mastitis; also arthritis and genital infections.

 

 

 Mycoplasma bovigenitalium

 Cattle

 Mastitis, arthritis and genital tract infections.

 

 

Mycoplasma dispar

 Cattle

 Pneumonia

 

 

Mycoplasma synoviae

 Birds

 Synovitis of hock and wing joints of chickens and turkeys

 

 

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

 Swine

 Enzootic pneumonia.

 

 

Mycoplasma hyorhinis

 Swine

Pneumonia (also found in nasal cavities)

 

 

Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Fowl

 Chronic respiratory disease in turkeys, chickens; infectious sinusitis and synovitis of turkeys. Results in decreased egg production, poor growth and embryo death

 

 

Mycoplasma meleagridis

 Turkeys

 Airsacculitis in turkeys. Transmitted by eggs then laterally to poults.

 

 

Mycoplasma hyosynoviae

 Swine

 Arthritis in older pigs

 

 

Ureaplasma species

 Cattle & turkeys <