The importance of ovine arthritis in meat hygiene in New Zealand.

Abstract Extract Arthritis is one of the most commonly seen pathological conditions in lambs and sheep in New Zealand meat works. It causes considerable economic loss because affected carcasses have to be either wholly or partly condemned. Although many micro-organisms are capable of causing arthritis in sheep and lambs, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae plays a dominant role. Dolman (1957), Behrens(1962), Drabble (1964), Haupt (1964), Collins (1966), and Thornton (1968), reported E. rhusiopathiae responsible in lambs. In New Zealand, Hopkirk and Gill (1930) were the first to report an arthritic condition affecting the limb joints of lambs.