40S STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



INFECTIOUS ABORTION AND STERILITY IN CATTLE. 



Technical Bulletin No. 14. 



BY WARD GILTNBR. 



The economic importance of these affections, if thev be distinct affec- 

 tions, or of these manifestations resulting from whatever etiologic 

 factor, is becoming more apparent each year. The effect on the breeder 

 of valuable registered cattle resulting from abortion and subsequent 

 failure to breed in his stock is significant in that there is a possibility 

 of the wit hdra Aval from the ranks of breeders of some men whose ser- 

 vices are invaluable to the great work of live stock improvement. The 

 condition is the more serious because of the fact that scientific research 

 has been so little directed toward overcoming these troubles. 



We have arrived at the point where many bacteriologists are confi- 

 dent that the cause of infectious abortion is Bact. abortus (Bang). 

 The cause of granular vaginitis and sterility is not determined bacter- 

 iologically although Ostertag at one time was of the opinion that he 

 had a streptococcus as the etiologic factor for the former trouble. Many 

 cases of sterility, either teniporaiT (though often pi'otracted) failure to 

 breed, or permanent sterility ai*e easily attributable to the effects of 

 secondary infection by ubiquitous pus-producing organisms that invade 

 the uterus after an abortion produced by the Bang bActerium. Other 

 cases have no apparent relation to an abortion, although in these cases 

 it is not proven that the Bang organism is absent. 



Williams (vide Veterinary Obstetrics) is of the opinion that these 

 cases of granular vaginitis and sterility are best treated by daily vaginal 

 douches with weak (.75 per cent) lysol or bacterol solutions persisted 

 in for six months if necessary. In addition he advocates the manipula- 

 tions of the ovaries per rectum in cases showing cystic condition or per- 

 sistent corjuis luteum. The presence of the corpus luteum during the 

 first stages of pregTiancy, at least, ap]>ears to be essential to ])ro|HM- de- 

 velopment of the foetus, but its persistence, especially when it becomes 

 cystic, after parturition seems to prevent conception. 



Two years ago, we began the use of liquid cultures of lactic organ- 

 isms (ordinary lactic at first, later Bact. bulgaricum) in these cases as a 

 substitute for chemical or coal tar disinfectants. We have used for 

 these cultures ordinary lactose bouillon, sterile whey, and the acid whey 

 from milk curdled by the lactic organism in pure culture. The last 

 mentioned method is the simplest and is now being used in a number 

 of dairies reporting considerable trouble. In one case, recorded in the 

 1911 report of the department, at Howell about 50 per cent of the cases 

 thus treated conceived after only a few treatments. It is too early 

 to pass jiidgnipiit on the eflicacy of this treatment in this connection, 



