A Condition Affecting Female Camels

Doctor A. Morrie Craig is a livestock disease and plant toxicology researcher who taught at a Pac-12 school for several decades. Among Dr. A. Morrie Craig’s works is an article on ovarian hydrobursitis in female camels published in the Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture.

Enclosed by the mesosalpinx and the mesovarium, the ovarian bursa is a peritoneal cavity in female mammals. It surrounds the ovaries, as well as the oviductal infundibulum. This small cavity has a purpose of transporting oocytes as part of the ovulation process.

According to studies of female camels, ovarian hydrobursitis syndrome initially takes root as an inflammatory process, with much of the bursal fluid that accumulates originating as follicular fluid. The latter is a dynamic and complex biological fluid that surrounds and nourishes the developing oocyte in the ovum.

The standard treatment for ovarian hydrobursitis involves surgically removing the affected bursa and ovary. Because one intact ovary still remains, fertility may be restored and maintained. By contrast, bilaterally affected camels have few options in maintaining fertility. While a transvaginal needle may be used to drain the fluid, the hydrobursitis will likely return in the future.