Isolation of Arcanobacterium pyogenes from the scrotal skin and the prepuce of healthy rams or from rams with testicular abnormalities

In a field study, samples were obtained from the scrotal skin and the preputial cavity of 48 rams and examined bacteriologically. Bacteria were isolated from all skin samples and from 90% of preputial cavity samples. The most frequently isolated organisms were Staphylococcus spp., Bacillus spp., Clostridium spp., Acinetobacter spp. and Escherichia coli. Arcanobacterium pyogenes was isolated from the skin samples of 33% and the preputial cavity samples of 8% of rams. Furthermore, the clinical and pathological features of three clinical cases of testicular abnormalities associated with A. pyogenes, are also presented; in two animals, the organism caused long-standing orchitis and the third scrotal cellulites and testicular degeneration. These findings confirm that A. pyogenes can be a testicular pathogen under field conditions; the source of infection appears to be organisms present on the scrotal skin.