An Epidemiological Survey of Infectious Necrotic Hepatitis (Black Disease) of Sheep in Southern Scotland

Abstract

The results of a survey on 5 Scottish lowland farms have shown that fascioliasis and the presence of Clostridium novyi (oedematiens) type B in the soil and in the livers of normal sheep are more prevalent in areas where infectious necrotic hepatitis occurs, than in other areas. A significant correlation between the incidence of fluke infected livers and the incidence of Cl. novyi type B in the soils may indicate that both the clostridia and the fluke are favoured by the same type of soil environment. Most of the Cl. novyi type B recovered from the soils or from the livers were of low toxigenicity.