Utility of postmortem bacterial culture of abdominal organs at autopsy of young calves. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Witherell, Kaitlin; White, Laura; Shaw, Lisa; Tomassini, Letizia; Eckstrand, Chrissy; Nelson, Danielle; McConnel, Craig S.; Burbick, Claire R.
• Is Part Of: Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation. Volume 35:Number 2(2023)
• Page Start: 182
• Page End: 186
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: autopsy -- bacteria -- calves -- laboratory testing -- microbiology -- postmortem -- sepsis; Veterinary medicine -- Diagnosis -- Periodicals; 636.0896075
• DOI: 10.1177/10406387231152576
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1040-6387

Abstract

Postmortem bacterial culture is controversial in human medicine, and veterinary-specific research in this area is lacking. To address this knowledge gap, we cultured liver, kidney, and spleen individually from on-farm calf mortalities to determine the number of bacterial species present, concordance between organ cultures, and agreement with gross and histologic findings. We hypothesized that the spleen, a filtering organ, would be the most useful organ with the least amount of postmortem contamination given that it does not have a direct conduit to a bacterial population. Fresh liver, kidney, and spleen were collected for culture from 30 calves 5–28-d-old with various causes of mortality. Bacterial growth of ≥2 species was observed in ~48% of cultures, with Escherichia coli and Streptococcus spp. being most frequent. One bacterial species was present in 20% of cultures, with E. coli predominating. No growth was observed in ~32% of cultures. In 43% of cases, there was agreement in the culture results for all 3 organs; however, the majority were mixed bacterial growth. The best agreement was observed when there were no gross and/or histologic septic lesions in target organs and no bacterial growth on culture. The spleen was not helpful in determining bacterial significance in comparison to kidney or liver.