Mycotic Pneumonia and Placentitis Caused by Mortierella wolfii I. Experimental Infections in Cattle and Sheep

Five million spores of a pathogenic isolate of Mortierella wolfii, when inoculated intravenously into pregnant and nonpregnant cows, caused an acute mycotic pneumonia that resulted in death in less than 4 days. Doses of between 2.5 × 10 3 and 1 × 10 5 spores injected intravenously caused mycotic abortion in 16–34 days at 6–8 months of pregnancy. Doses of this order also caused focal, nonfatal pneumonia. Acute mycotic pneumonia was also induced in 6-month-old calves by intravenous injections of spores. Intratracheal, subcutaneous, and oral administration of M. wolfii spores did not produce lesions in cattle. Intravenous inoculation of cattle with up to 1.2 × 10 8 spores of Absidia ramosa and with 1.2 × 10 8 spores of Aspergillus fumigatus did not cause lesions. Intravenous administration of large numbers of spores of M. wolfil, A. fumigatus and A. ramosa to pregnant sheep did not cause lesions.