Ovine abortion associated with an anaerobic bacterium

An anaerobic, slightly curved, tapered, corrugated, rod-shaped bacterium with O to greater than 12 flagella at each pole was isolated from 2 aborted lambs with focal hepatic necrosis. The organism stained faintly Gram-negative, but stained better by the Giemsa method. It was pleomorphic in culture, ranging from filaments containing granules to faintly staining spheroids.