[Morphological and biochemical changes in the blood of lambs with experimental Erysipelothrix polyarthritis]

Polyarthritis was induced in lambs via the i/v infection with 2 cm3 of 24-hour Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae broth culture, which led to distinctive morphologic and biochemical changes in the peripheral blood. The hemoglobin content, the erythrocyte count, and the hematocrit value dropped, while ESR rose with the development of the infection process. The white blood picture presented transient and slight drop of the leukocyte count followed by leukocytosis with shifting to the left, aneosinophilia, lympho- and monopenia in the acute stage, and well manifested eosinophilia in the chronic stage of the infection. The changes in the total protein and the protein fractions consisted in hypoproteinemia in the first days following infection, hypoalbuminemia during the entire period, and hyperproteinemia and hypergammaglobulinemia in the chronic stage. The changes in the blood electrolites consisted in the rise of Ca and K, the drop of Na, and transient changes in the level of P, tending toward a rise in the chronic stage. It was also established that the values of sialic acid were raised in the entire period of polyarthritis development, while those of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were higher in the first seven-day period only.