Abstract
A survey was conducted on the occurrences of rumen parakeratosis, rumenitis, traumatic reticulitis, and reticular and hepatic abscesses among 492 slaughtered cattle in Yamaguchi and Fukuoka Prefectures, Japan. These diseases occurred to 59 animals (12.0%), 83 (16.9%), 26 (5.3%) and 25 (5.1%), respectively. Hepatic abscesses were detected from 18 (12.0%) of 149 animals with rumen parakeratosis and/or rumenitis, 3 (11.5%) of 26 with traumatic reticulitis, 1 (12.5%) of 8 with reticular abscesses, and 3 (1.0%) of 309 with no disorders. Fusobacterium necrophorum was detected from 9 of 20 cases of rumen parakeratosis, 12 of 20 cases of rumenitis, 1 of 10 cases of unaffected ruminal tissue, and all of the cases of reticular and hepatic abscesses. The viable count of F. necrophorum was 104 to 106 per gram in the cases of rumen parakeratosis, 103 to 107 in those of rumenitis, and 105 in that of unaffected ruminal tissue.
