[Experimental infection of goats with Brucella ovis. Bacteriological serological and histopathological studies]

The susceptibility of adult male goats to Brucella ovis infection was studied. Fifteen goats and fifteen rams both of ages ranging from 22 to 34 months were inoculated conjunctivally with 10(9) cells of B. ovis strain recently isolated from a case of ram epididymitis. Five goats and five rams were killed 78 days after inoculation and similar groups were killed at two month intervals thereafter. B. ovis was recovered from semen of a male goat, 33 and 61 days after inoculation. The five goats sacrificed 78 days after inoculation contained Brucella in their organs. The semen and the tissues of the two other groups remained culturally negative throughout the observation period. Seven cultures were obtained from the semen of 14 rams used comparatively as inoculated controls. Epididymitis was clinically observed only in one male goat although under six presented macroscopic lesions. Seven rams out of the 15 inoculated showed clinical symptoms of epididymitis. Antibodies detectable by complement fixation and immunodiffusion disappeared 80 days after inoculation in goats, while rams reacted during the 189 days period of observation. It is concluded that the B. ovis infection in male goats is transient and the role that they may play in the epizootiology of the disease is negligible.