Liver abscesses in cattle: Review

Abstract

Liver abscesses are considered sequelae of rumen acidosis and ruminits in cattle fed diets rich in highly fermentable carbohydrates and poor in roughage. Fusobacterium necrophorum is the main etiological agent and the second most frequently isolated pathogen is Arcanobacterium pyogenes, currently known as Trueperella pyogenes. Most of the time, liver abscesses are diagnosed and found in the postmortem examination during the slaughter of cattle, because there is rarely a manifestation of clinical signs. Macroscopically, liver abscesses are seen as an area of purulent inflammation, surrounded by a fibrous connective tissue capsule, which can vary in thickness and size, reaching up to 15 cm in diameter. Liver abscesses are identified as a huge economic problem for producers and also for the meat industry, since they are associated with a decrease in dietary intake, weight gain, carcass yield and the condemnation of the liver. Therefore, there is an incessant search to prevent and reduce the incidence of liver abscesses, mainly through alternative means to the use of antibiotics, such as the production of vaccines and the manipulation of the diets, since the use of antibiotics is contested by several countries due to the risk to induce antimicrobial resistance in humans. Thus, the objective of this review is to gather and discuss information about the incidence of liver abscesses in cattle, as well as their economic importance, etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and prevention.