animals Review Role of Infection and Immunity in Bovine Perinatal Mortality: Part 2. Fetomaternal Response to Infection and Novel Diagnostic Perspectives Paulina Jawor 1,* , John F. Mee 2 and Tadeusz Stefaniak 1 1 Department of Immunology, Pathophysiology and Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-375 Wrocław, Poland;
[email protected] 2 Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Teagasc, Moorepark Research Centre, P61 P302 Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Simple Summary: Bovine perinatal mortality (death of the fetus or calf before, during, or within 48 h of calving at full term (≥260 days) may be caused by noninfectious and infectious causes. Although infectious causes of fetal mortality are diagnosed less frequently, infection in utero may also compromise the development of the fetus without causing death. This review presents fetomaternal responses to infection and the changes which can be observed in such cases. Response to infection, especially the concentration of immunoglobulins and some acute-phase proteins, may be used for diagnostic purposes. Some changes in internal organs may also be used as an indicator of infection in utero. However, in all cases (except pathogen-specific antibody response) non-pathogen-specific responses do not aid in pathogen-specific diagnosis of the cause of calf death. But, nonspecific markers of in utero infection may allow us to assign the cause of fetal mortality to infection and thus Citation: Jawor, P.; Mee, J.F.; increase our overall diagnosis rate, particularly in cases of the “unexplained stillbirth”. Stefaniak, T. Role of Infection and Immunity in Bovine Perinatal Abstract: Bovine perinatal mortality due to infection may result either from the direct effects of Mortality: Part 2.