Osteomyelitis and disseminated infection caused by Corynebacterium renale in a goat

A 1.5-year-old female goat was examined for recurrence of lameness involving the right forelimb. Radiography of the thorax and right scapulohumeral joint revealed a pathologic fracture of the supraglenoid tubercle, and circumscribed radiolucent lesions in the right third and fourth ribs, and the base of the spinous process of T3. Bone scintigraphy demonstrated additional lesions in the lumbar spine and the wings of the ilium. At necropsy, disseminated infection and hematogenous osteomyelitis were diagnosed. Corynebacterium renale was cultured from the rib lesions. In food animals, osteomyelitis usually develops secondary to traumatic wounds, and members of the genus Actinomyces are frequently incriminated as the causative organism. This case is unusual because the osteomyelitis was unrelated to a traumatic wound, and the gross and microscopic lesions were reminiscent of caseous lymphadenitis, an infection caused by C pseudotuberculosis.