Pneumonia in sheep associated with dipping in carbolic dips

Fourteen outbreaks of pneumonia in sheep following dipping in carbolic dips were investigated at seven laboratories. Deaths commonly occurred between one and three days after dipping and fat young sheep of the Suffolk and Border Leicester breeds were most usually involved in outbreaks. The pneumonia was characterised by hyperaemic, oedematous and cyanotic lungs, and the main histological features were hyperaemia, fluid and cellular exudation into alveolar spaces, and widespread epithelialisation of alveolar walls. The microscopic changes differed from pneumonic pasteurellosis and no significant organisms were recovered from any of the lungs. One of 27 Dorset Horn lambs dipped in a batch of dip which had been incriminated in some episodes developed an epithelialising interstitial pneumonia, while two out of three Suffolk lambs dipped in twice the recommended strength of the same batch of dip became ill with severe pneumonia, apparently following skin absorption.