Prevalence of Mycotic Mastitis and Evaluation of Some Virulence Potential of Candida albicans Isolated from Mastitic Goats

Abstract

The aims of this study are to identify mycotic agents, assess the prevalence of mycotic mastitis, and evaluate the virulence of C. albicans that was isolated from Mastitic goats. To investigate the prevalence of mycotic mastitis, related to goats in Baghdad, 166 lactating goats were examined and 332 milk samples were collected from ( January -July) 2022. 10 ml of milk were collected in sterile test tubes, an equal volume of milk and CMT reagent were gently shaken in a paddle and the reaction was noticed within (10-15) seconds. The clinical form of mastitis accounted 9.35%, while the subclinical form accounted 52.4%, with positive (+ve) California mastitis test (CMT) results which are high significant. All milk samples were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) for (3-5) days at 37 ºC. According to the result, 46.34% of the isolates had mycotic mastitis, with 33 isolates (34.74%) belonging to mold and 62 isolates (65.26%) returning to yeasts. Candida albicans had the highest percentage (high significant) of yeast isolation of (67.74%) with 42 isolates which were detected by using conventional methods such as the germ tube test, urease production, Chlamydospore formation, and chromogenic medium. Hemolysis, phospholipase activities, and biofilm formation were among the virulence tested factors. Hemolysis and phospholipase activities were detected in 76.2% and 83.33% of C. albicans isolates, respectively, while biofilm formation was detected in 100% of C. albicans isolates. The diagnosis was confirmed using 25 of the most virulent C. albicans isolates, by polymers chains reaction (PCR) to detect the KER1 gene revealed that all 25 samples were positive with the product size (658bp). Phospholipases B1 (PLB1) and the secretion of aspartyl proteinase 1 (SAP1) gene were used to detect C. albicans virulence with 100% and 80% accuracy, respectively, while Hyphal Wall Protein 1 (HWP1) gene was not detected. It is expected that these C. albicans isolates contained a significant proportion of virulence factors that were linked to pathogenicity and the severity of infection. There findings suggest that poor sanitation and a reduction in goat health and nutrition were to blame for the high morbidity incidence of mycotic mastitis in Iraqi goats.

Prevalence and sensitivity of contagious and environmental cow mastitis-causing pathogens to antibiotics in Ukrainian farms

“…In [43] reported that the prevalence of mastitis caused by yeasts was 1.09%, which also coincided with the results of our studies.…”