Pathological and molecular investigations on post-mortem lung samples of goats from Akola region, India

Pneumonia is one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in caprines. Although bacterial organisms play important role in the pathology of pneumonia in goats, it has a multifactorial etiology. In the present investigation 480 goat carcasses in Akola, Maharashtra, India, were examined during April to December 2022, for pneumonic lesions and the occurrence was found to be 6.66% (32/480). Pathological and molecular studies were conducted on pneumonic lungs of goat carcasses, these pneumonic lung samples revealed gross lesions like hepatization, consolidation, congestion, and bronchial froth. Histopathologically, pneumonia was categorized as bronchopneumonia (59.375%, 19/32), interstitial pneumonia (28.125%, 9/32), bronchointerstitial pneumonia (9.375%, 3/32), and hydatidosis (3.125%, 1/32). Bronchopneumonia was further subtyped into suppurative (acute) bronchopneumonia (34.375%, 11/32), chronic bronchopneumonia (15.625%, 5/32) and fibrinous bronchopneumonia (9.375%, 3/32). PCR assays identified Mycoplasma spp. (40.62%), C. pseudotuberculosis (9.37%), P. multocida (21.87%), and M. haemolytica (25%) as bacterial etiologies. This study provides novel insights into the occurrence, histopathological classification, and associated bacterial causes of goat pneumonia in the Akola region.