A comparison of various Haemophilus somnus strains.

Sixty-eight Haemophilus somnus strains isolated from the bovine in Canada and the U.S.A. were compared. In media enriched with 5% ovine serum, 5% bovine serum and 10% yeast extract, H. somnus fermented glucose, levulose, maltose, mannitol, mannose, sorbitol, trehalose and xylose, but failed to ferment arabinose, dulcitol, galactose, inositol, lactose, raffinose, rhamnose, salicin and sucrose. The organisms acidified litmus milk, produced cytochrome oxidase, indole and hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) and reduced nitrates to nitrites. The motility, methyl-red, acetylmethyl-carbinol urease catalase, citrate, malonate, lysine, ornithine and arginine tests were negative. Haemophilus somnus was resistant to lincomycin, neomycin and triple sulfa, but susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, penicillin and tetracycline. No antigenic differences were noted between strains when tested against rabbit antisera of eight strains using agglutination, complement-fixation, immunodiffusion and counterimmunoelectrophoresis tests. Low titre cross-reactions were found in the agglutination tests with some of the anti-H. somnus rabbit sera with Actinobacillus lignieresi and Moraxella bovis. No distinct antigenic similarities to nine other species of pathogenic bacteria of animal origin were found. No difference was observed between H. somnus isolates from Ontario and those from western Canada and the U.S.A.