actinomycosis

International Common Names

• English: actinomycosis in cattle; actinomycosis, lumpy jaw in ruminants and horses; lumpy jaw; otitis media, externa, interna, middle and inner ear infections

Actinomyces bovis
Actinomyces hyovaginalis
Actinomyces israelii
Actinomyces naeslundii
Actinomyces viscosus

Actinomyces spp. are Gram-positive anaerobes normally found in the upper respiratory tract, oral cavity and digestive tract of domestic animals and humans. Although part of the normal flora, the bacteria are opportunistic invaders; several species are associated with diseases in animals (Glinski and Chelminski, 2014).

In cattle, Actinomyces bovis causes pyogranulomatous osteomyelitis of the mandible and maxilla, known as ‘lumpy jaw’ (Henton and Collett, 2004; Militerno, 2008). Disease occurs when A. bovis is introduced to underlying soft tissue via penetrating wounds of the oral mucosa from coarse feed or foreign material. Involvement of adjacent bone may result in facial distortion, dislodgement of teeth, inability to chew, mandibular fractures and obstruction of the nasal cavity (Mas et al., 2008; Pal et al., 2008; Shah et al., 2016). A. bovis has also been isolated infrequently from infections in sheep (Antunes et al., 2012), pigs (Farinha et al., 1980; Hu and Lin, 1995), llamas (Camenzind, 2005) and buffaloes (Ayyappan et al., 1993; Ali, 2000; Vaja et al., 2015).

Actinomyces israelii is primarily associated with chronic granulomatous infections in humans but has been associated rarely with disease in cattle (Thompson, 1950; Ivanova et al., 1990) and mastitis in pigs (Englert, 1961; Franke, 1973).

Actinomyces naeslundii has been isolated rarely from infections in livestock, including goats (Hirai et al., 2007) and aborted pigs (Palmer et al., 1979).

In pigs, Actinobaculum suis[previously Actinomyces suis, Eubacterium suis] is a significant cause of urinary tract infections (Wendt and Amtsberg, 1995; Kjelvik et al., 2002; Woldemeskel et al., 2002).

Actinomyces viscosus has been isolated from a case of actinomycosis in a West African Dwarf goat (Oyekunle et al., 2010), from a case of bovine haemorrhagic mastitis (Bakhiet et al., 1997) and from an aborted calf (Okewole et al., 1989).

Actinomyces hyovaginalis has been associated with abortion (Collins et al., 1993; Hogg et al., 2012) and lung lesions (Aalbæk et al., 2003; Reichel and Wragg, 2007) in pigs and with abscesses in sheep (Foster et al., 2012).

bone, foot diseases and lameness in large ruminants
bone, foot diseases and lameness in small ruminants
digestive diseases of large ruminants
mammary gland diseases of pigs
reproductive diseases of pigs