{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,6]],"date-time":"2026-05-06T03:39:24Z","timestamp":1778038764574,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]],"date-time":"2016-11-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1479081600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]],"date-time":"2016-11-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1479081600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Waddlia chondrophila<\/jats:italic>is a Gram-negative intracellular bacterial organism that is related to classical chlamydial species and has been implicated as a cause of abortion in cattle. Despite an increasing number of observational studies linking<jats:italic>W. chondrophila<\/jats:italic>infection to cattle abortion, little direct experimental evidence exists. Given this paucity of direct evidence the current study was carried out to investigate whether experimental challenge of pregnant cattle with<jats:italic>W. chondrophila<\/jats:italic>would result in infection and abortion. Nine pregnant Friesian-Holstein heifers received 2\u2009\u00d7\u200910<jats:sup>8<\/jats:sup>inclusion forming units (IFU)<jats:italic>W. chondrophila<\/jats:italic>intravenously on day 105\u2013110 of pregnancy, while four negative-control animals underwent mock challenge. Only one of the challenged animals showed pathogen-associated lesions, with the organism being detected in the diseased placenta. Importantly, the organism was re-isolated and its identity confirmed by whole genome sequencing, confirming Koch\u2019s third and fourth postulates. However, while infection of the placenta was observed, the experimental challenge in this study did not confirm the abortifacient potential of the organism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/srep37150","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]],"date-time":"2016-11-14T10:06:41Z","timestamp":1479118001000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Experimental challenge of pregnant cattle with the putative abortifacient Waddlia chondrophila"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Nicholas","family":"Wheelhouse","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Allen","family":"Flockhart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kevin","family":"Aitchison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Morag","family":"Livingstone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeanie","family":"Finlayson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Virginie","family":"Flachon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eric","family":"Sellal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mark P.","family":"Dagleish","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Longbottom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"814","DOI":"10.1128\/jcm.28.4.814-816.1990","volume":"28","author":"PM Dilbeck","year":"1990","unstructured":"Dilbeck, P. M. et al. Isolation of a previously undescribed Rickettsia from an aborted bovine fetus. J. Clin. Microbiol. 28, 814\u2013816 (1990).","journal-title":"J. Clin. Microbiol."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5949","DOI":"10.1128\/jb.172.10.5949-5955.1990","volume":"172","author":"KM Kocan","year":"1990","unstructured":"Kocan, K. M., Crawford, T. B., Dilbeck, P. M., Evermann, J. F. & McGuire, T. C. Development of a Rickettsia isolated from an aborted bovine fetus. J. Bacteriol. 172, 5949\u20135955 (1990).","journal-title":"J. Bacteriol."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"577","DOI":"10.1099\/00207713-49-2-577","volume":"49","author":"FR Rurangirwa","year":"1999","unstructured":"Rurangirwa, F. R., Dilbeck, P. M., Crawford, T. B., McGuire, T. C. & McElwain, T. F. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of micro-organism WSU 86-1044 from an aborted bovine foetus reveals that it is a member of the order Chlamydiales: proposal of Waddliaceae fam. nov., Waddlia chondrophila gen. nov., sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49 Pt 2, 577\u2013581 (1999).","journal-title":"Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1016\/S0378-1135(01)00510-7","volume":"85","author":"K Henning","year":"2002","unstructured":"Henning, K. et al. Neospora caninum and Waddlia chondrophila strain 2032\/99 in a septic stillborn calf. Vet. Microbiol. 85, 285\u2013292 (2002).","journal-title":"Vet. Microbiol."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"568","DOI":"10.1177\/104063870301500609","volume":"15","author":"P Dilbeck-Robertson","year":"2003","unstructured":"Dilbeck-Robertson, P., McAllister, M. M., Bradway, D. & Evermann, J. F. Results of a new serologic test suggest an association of Waddlia chondrophila with bovine abortion. J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 15, 568\u2013569 (2003).","journal-title":"J. Vet. Diagn. Invest."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vetmic.2013.01.036","volume":"164","author":"M Barkallah","year":"2013","unstructured":"Barkallah, M. et al. First detection of Waddlia chondrophila in Africa using SYBR Green real-time PCR on veterinary samples. Vet. Microbiol. 164, 101\u2013107 (2013).","journal-title":"Vet. Microbiol."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e91549","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0091549","volume":"9","author":"M Barkallah","year":"2014","unstructured":"Barkallah, M. et al. Survey of infectious etiologies of bovine abortion during mid- to late gestation in dairy herds. PloS ONE 9, e91549 (2014).","journal-title":"PloS ONE"},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"460","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2003.131019","volume":"20","author":"D Baud","year":"2014","unstructured":"Baud, D. et al. Role of Waddlia chondrophila placental infection in miscarriage. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 20, 460\u2013464 (2014).","journal-title":"Emerg. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Verweij, S. P. et al. Waddlia chondrophila and Chlamydia trachomatis antibodies in screening infertile women for tubal pathology. Microb. Infect. (2015).","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micinf.2015.09.019"},{"key":"BFsrep37150_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1239","DOI":"10.3201\/eid1308.070315","volume":"13","author":"D Baud","year":"2007","unstructured":"Baud, D., Thomas, V., Arafa, A., Regan, L. & Greub, G. Waddlia chondrophila, a potential agent of human fetal death. Emerg. Infect. 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Rec."}],"container-title":["Scientific Reports"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep37150.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep37150","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep37150.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,12]],"date-time":"2025-06-12T13:22:31Z","timestamp":1749734551000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep37150"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,12,23]]}},"alternative-id":["BFsrep37150"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/srep37150","relation":{},"ISSN":["2045-2322"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2045-2322","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,14]]},"assertion":[{"value":"21 June 2016","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"25 October 2016","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"14 November 2016","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"ES is the CEO and VF the lead in bacteriology at BioSellal which manufactures and supplies the commercial <i>Waddlia chondrophila<\/i> qPCR kit used during this study. The remaining authors declare no competing financial interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"37150"}}