Toxoplasmosis as a cause of ovine perinatal mortality

Extract An earlier paper by Hartley et al, (1954 Hartley, W. J., Jehson, J. L. and McFarlane, D. 1954. Aust. vet. J., 30: 216–216. [Google Scholar]) described a hitherto unrecognized disease affecting ovine foetal membranes which was given the interim name of New Zealand Type II Abortion. The multiple small necrotic foci in the foetal cotyledons that characterized this condition were invariably associated in tissue sections with clumps of organisms that were indistinguishable from Toxoplasma. The early efforts to culture the presumed Toxoplasma in mice proved unsuccessful, and transmission to pregnant ewes was inconclusive. The present paper records the successful transmission of this disease and the isolation of Toxoplasma.