2020 Volume 73 Issue 2 Pages 96-100
Umbilical infections in calves occur during or after birth and cause systemic infections. Intraabdominal omphalitis was observed in 2 of 9 calves purchased. Case 1 showed swelling of the left carpal joint from when they came, but case 2 had no signs. At autopsy, the umbilical veins of both calves were enlarged to 2-3 cm in diameter and contained pus. In case 1, abscesses up to 3 cm in diameter were mainly scattered in the left lobe of the liver, and subcutaneously in the right shoulder and parietal lobe of the brain. However, in case 2, severe atrophy and hyperplasia of hepatic arterioles were observed in the left lobe of the liver. Immunohistochemically, Trueperella pyogenes antigens were detected in the umbilical vein in both cases. Case 1 was diagnosed with septicemia due to umbilical infection, and case 2 was diagnosed with severe atrophy of the left lobe de to circulatory failure from compression of the intrahepatic portal vein by the enlarged umbilical vein with fibrosis.
