Infertility in cattle in south-west Scotland caused by an ‘Intermediate’ strain of Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus (formerly Campylobacter fetus intestinalis)

Abstract

Infertility caused by Campylobacter fetus sub sp. fetus ‘intermediate’ strain is described in eight herds in South West Scotland. Experimental infection of virgin heifers resulted in the organism being recovered up to 321 days postinfection. In infected herds and experimental heifers agglutinins appeared in vaginal mucus and were detectable by the vaginal mucus agglutination test using C. fetus sub sp. venerealis antigen. All isolates of C. fetus sub sp. fetus ‘intermediate’ recovered from these eight herds were serotype A according to the classification of Morgan (1959) and Berg, Jutila & Firehammer (1971).