We describe an outbreak of mandibular abscess in Bergamácia sheep from the municipality of Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. In a herd of 120 sheep, 35 showed an increase of the mandibular volume with presence of a single nodule of stony consistency and different sizes, often fistulated but with no signs of inflammation in the surrounding soft tissues. The sheep were raised on a Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania pasture, with water and mineral salt ad libitum, and were treated orally against parasites with drenching pistols. Material for microbiological diagnosis and antibiogram was collected from the nodules of five affected sheep, through puncture and aspiration. From 35 affected sheep, 19 were submitted to radiographic examination, one was submitted to computer tomography and another to bone biopsy of the submandibular region. The only sheep that died was in a state of cachexia, probably due to the location of the volume increase which affected the molar hindering apprehension and appropriate chewing. Necropsy revealed areas of caseous necrosis in the jaw, from where Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated. The sheep were treated with intramuscular application of 10% sodium iodide and the antobiotgic enrofloxacin, but with little efficacy. Based on the clinical data from medical records, the location of lesions in the jaw bone, the result of microbiological culture, radiographic and computer tomography, the diagnosis of mandibular abscesses due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection was made.
Mandibular abscess; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; drenching guns; sheep
