(NY) Actinomyces hyovaginalis in a goat: A female adult Toggenburg goat presented with a swollen, draining right hock joint and multiple skin lesions. The veterinarian collected joint fluid and submitted the sample to the Animal Health Diagnostic Center for aerobic culture, which yielded A. hyovaginalis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was not possible due to the fastidious nature of the bacteria. These Gram-positive polymorphic bacteria are typically associated with pigs, and rare cases of porcine abortion. In 2009, a 6-year-old Nubian goat with history of emaciation and a cough presented to the Tufts Veterinary College. It was necropsied, and an enlarged tracheobronchial lymph node cultured A. hyovaginalis (1). A 2017 review of culture isolates from abscesses in 171 sheep and goat in Spain documented 5 cases of A. hyovaginalis from lymph nodes; 4 from sheep and 1 from a goat (2). The bacteriology laboratory at the AHDC has isolated A. hyovaginalis from 19 goat samples and 4 sheep samples since January 2017. This pathogen should be on the list of differentials for small ruminant abscesses.

References:

1. Schumacher VL, Hinckley L, Gilbert K, Risatti GR, Alfredo SL, Smyth JA. Actinomyces hyovaginalis-Associated Lymphadenitis in a Nubian Goat. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation. 2009;21:380–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/104063870902100315
2. de la Fuente R, de las Heras M, Torrijos C, de Tejada PD, Pérez-Sancho M, Carrión FJ, Orden JA, Dominguez-Bernal G. Isolation frequency of bacteria causing lymphadenitis and abscesses in small ruminants in central Spain. Small Ruminant Research. 2017;154:5-8.