[Serological and pathomorphological studies of Toxoplasma abortion in sheep]

A total of 648 blood serum samples from sheep and 65 aborted fetuses were subject to serologic, resp., morphologic studies. It was found via the immunodiffusion test that 33.4 per cent of the investigated sera from nonmiscarrying sheep and 53.06 per cent from sheep that aborted were positive for toxoplasmosis antibodies. It was established that primarily young animals (female yearlings and ewes on second lamb in the final month of pregnancy) aborted, the percent varying from 8 to 20, and is some flocks--up to 30. It was also found that the most characteristic gross lesions in the fetal placenta consisted of gray-whitish nodules; histologically, characteristic were the necrotic foci and the pseudocysts, some of the latter being necrobiotically changed, and others being involved in a calcification process. The histopathologic picture in the aborted fetuses was characterized by diffuse glial proliferation, glial nodes, and necrotic foci in the while matter of the brain and the cerebellum, focal proliferations and unreactive micronecrotic foci in the liver, kidneys, adrenals, the spleen, and in the lymph nodes.