Trichomonad abortion in Cattle ( Trichomoans foetus)

1. Trichomonad Abortion IN CAttle
(trichomonas foetus )
Presented by : Daman Adhikari

2. TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Host
2. Distribution
3. Morphology
4. Multiplication
5. Transmission
6. Site of Predilection
7. Life cycle
8. Pathogenesis
9. Clinical signs
10. Diagnosis
11. Treatment
12. Control and prevention
13. Immunity

3. HOST
Trichomonad abortion is caused by Trichomonas foetus.
Cattle , possibly pig and horse.

4. DISTRIBUTION
World
wide
PREVALANCE OF TRICHOMONAS GENUS RELATED HEALTH DISORDER
WORLD WIDE

5. MORPHOLOGY
Body is spindle to pear shaped , 10-25 x 3-15µ in
size
Actively motile
Has three anterior flagella of equal length
Costa is prominent
The axostyle is thick hyaline with a capitulum
Anterior end is rounded and exterior end is pointed
The organism has single nucleus
Posterior flagellum is as long as anterior flagella

6. MULTIPLICATION
It multiplies by
longitudinal binary
fission .

7. TRANSMISSION
Naturally by coitus
By improper artificial insemination with dirty gun and contaminated
sheath
Rare case – iatrogenic ( illness caused by medical examination or
treatment )
Examination with contaminated vaginal speculum .

8. SITE OF PREDILECTION
BULL – Preputial cavity
COW – Throughout the genital tract , abomasum of foetus , uterus and
vagina .
Incubation period is variable about 15 days

9. LIFE CYCLE

10. PATHOGENESIS
The organism inhabits the preputial cavity of the bull and
transmission to the cow occurs during coitus or natural service .
Trichomonads reach the uterus via cervix to produce a low grade
endometritis .
After infection , organism multiplying in vagina causing vaginitis ,
then invade uterus , oedema of endometrium and intermittent
(occurring at irregular intervals) vaginal discharge .( organism are
found in the amniotic and allantoic fluid )
After foetus development
The organism may invade the foetus , cause placentitis with
detachment of placenta and death of foetus .
Early abortion is at 1-16 weeks after successful breeding is very
characteristics of this infection

11. PATHOGENESIS CONTINUES..
Early embryonic death and abortion :
if the infection occurs in 1-2 weeks after breeding foetus with all
membrane passes out
Pyometra and sterility
if the infection occurs 8-16 weeks , foetus with all membrane may
not be completely eliminated .
Corpus luteum and cervical seal (due to mucus plug) of pregnancy is
retained leading to maceration(death) of fetus , chronic catarrhal or
chronic purulent endometritis usually ending in permanent sterility .

12. PATHOGENESIS CONTINUES…
Sequel of the infection
if placenta and foetal membrane are expelled completely , spontaneous recovery
follows . This is most common
The animal will be anoestrous .
Persistent uterine discharge occurs especially when animal lies down .
Uterus is filled with large volume of thin greenish white odourless material with
swarm of trichomonads in it
In long standing cases , the trichommonads may disapper from the uterine fluid
Normal gestation and calving may occur in infected animal but it is rare .
Cow may remain carrier for a year .

13. CLINICAL SIGNS
Abortion in early gestation
Infertility due to embryonic death
Mild vaginal discharge
Poor pregnancy rates
Extended breeding season
Bulls shows no signs
Pyometra

14. DIAGNOSIS
Herd history : failure to conceive after repeated breeding .
Mucopurelent discharge from uterus and vagina .
Content from aborted foetus , stomach , abomasum , placenta ,
amniotic or allantoic fluids following abortion .
Culture in CPLM( Cysteine-peptone Liver extract maltose serum )
BGPS ( beef extract glucose , peptone serum)
Serological test , cervical mucus agglutination test ( antigen
detection) .
conduct repeated examination , at least 6 examination at weekly
interval .
Nucleic acid detection technique (PCR etc. )

15. TREATMENT
Ordinarily trichomoniasis is self-limiting in cows , hence treatment is unnecessary.
No satisfactory treatment is known .
Breeding rest is important followed by artificial insemination to avoid infecting a
clean bull .
Treatment of bull is not advocated as it is tedious and time consuming unless bull is
valuable .
Slaughter is the best option .
Some of the treatment option for valuable bulls are :
Trypan blue or acriflavin in an ointment base can be applied on the penis and
prepuce and 30 ml of the solution is also injected into prepuce
Diminazane 100-150 ml of 1% solution injected into prepuce for 5 days
Dimetronidazole – 50 mg /kg for 5 days orally , single i/v dose of 50 mg/kg or i/v
injection 10mg/kg daily for 5 days .
Similar dose for cows can be tried .

16. CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Proper herd management
Slaughter of infected bull
Examination of bull before service
Strict sterile vaginal examination
Use of communal bulls is discouraged
Use of clean bulls for artificial insemination
They should be examined for Trichomonas fetus before purchase
Freezing of semen with glycerol appears to be toxic to trichomonads at
refrigeration temperature but not in incubation temperature (37ºC)
Vaccine are available for cows only but not for bulls ( not effective )
T.foetus can be safely eliminated from semen by Dimetronidazole.

17. IMMUNITY
Cows or heifers that recover from infection are usually relatively
immune although re-infection can occur due to different serological
strain of Trichomonas foetus .
There is little evidence of bulls becoming immune to infection and
organism persist for life in them .