Campylobacter infection is a leading cause of ovine abortion worldwide. Campylobacter fetus and C. jejuni are the major species involved. We report herein on abortion storms in 4 Danish sheep flocks. Initially, no pathogenic bacteria were isolated from placental and fetal tissues on aerobic and selective media despite the presence of severe suppurative and necrotizing placentitis with numerous bacteria located intracellularly in trophoblasts. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was then applied on abortion material from 13 cases; species-specific oligonucleotide probes directed against either C. fetus or C. jejuni were used in combination with a general bacterial probe. C. fetus was detected as the only lesion-associated bacterial species in 4 cases from 2 flocks, and C. jejuni in 6 cases from the other 2 flocks, thereby establishing the likely etiology of the abortion storms in all 4 flocks. FISH is a useful detection tool in culture-negative cases with tissue lesions suggestive of bacterial infection. Furthermore, FISH is a fast and economical method to detect and identify the zoonotic agent Campylobacter within ovine abortion material.

中文翻译：

---

荧光原位杂交技术在绵羊弯曲杆菌流产物种特异性诊断中的应用。

弯曲杆菌感染是全世界绵羊流产的主要原因。胎儿弯曲杆菌和空肠弯曲杆菌是主要的物种。我们在此报告了4只丹麦羊群中的堕胎风暴。最初，尽管存在严重的化脓性和坏死性胎盘炎，并且滋养细胞内存在大量细菌，但在好氧和选择性培养基上没有从胎盘和胎儿组织中分离出致病菌。然后将荧光原位杂交（FISH）应用于13例流产材料中。针对胎儿梭状芽胞杆菌或空肠弯曲杆菌的物种特异性寡核苷酸探针与普通细菌探针结合使用。在2个鸡群中有4例检出了胎儿隐球菌，而在另外2个鸡群中有6例中发现了空肠弯曲杆菌，从而确定了所有4个鸡群中流产风暴的可能病因。FISH在培养阴性的组织损伤提示细菌感染的病例中是一种有用的检测工具。此外，FISH是一种快速经济的方法，可以检测和鉴定绵羊流产材料中的人畜共患的弯曲杆菌。