Serologic and molecular evidence of Brucella ovis infection in ovine and caprine flocks in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundBrucella ovis infection is one of the leading causes of sub fertility and infertility in ovine, been characterized mainly by epididymitis, orchitis and testicular atrophy in rams. This study aimed to determine the frequency of B. ovis positivity in rams and goats flocks in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, by agarose gel immunodiffusion (AGID), ELISA, Rose Bengal, PCR and bacteriological isolation as diagnostic tools.FindingsSerum and urine samples were collected from properties with sheep or goat flocks, or from properties with mixed flock. Out of 50 sheep flocks, 6 % (3/50) were seropositive by AGID while 4 % (2/50) were positive by urine PCR for B. ovis. Out of five goat farms, 20 % (1/5) were seropositive for B. ovis by AGID. Mixed flock farms had 11.1 % (2/18) of positivity by AGID. By ELISA, 19.5 % (8/41) of sheep properties and 61.1 % (11/18) of the properties with mixed flocks were positive for B. ovis. No samples were positive in the test of Rose Bengal, ruling out exposure to smooth LPS Brucella species (particularly Brucella melitensis) and indicating that the positive in the ELISA was associated with Brucella spp. LPS rough (presumably B. ovis). No urine sample from sheep or goat was positive by bacteriological isolation.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate serologic or molecular evidence of B. ovis infection in several rams and billy goats from meso-regions of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Also, this study report the indirect ELISA as an important tool for the diagnosis of B. ovis infection, as indirect ELISA in this study demonstrated to be the most sensitive diagnostic method adopted.

First Serodiagnosis of Brucella ovis among rams with orchid-epididymitis in Mosul city, Iraq.

“…B. ovis infection was confirmed in different countries such as New Zealand [17], Romania [18], Croatia [19.20], Serbia [21], Brazil [22], Argentina [23], India [12,24], France [25] and Turkey [10], while some countries report never having recorded it as in Italy [26], Iran [27], and Canada [28]. In this study, the percentage of negative samples were higher than the positive samples, which can be attributed to either to trauma or to the presence of many species of bacteria causing epididymo-orchitis in ram [2,4].…”

Determinación de linfocitos T CD4, CD8 y Tγδ en la infección experimental con Brucella ovis

“…Los CD4 demandan la repetición de la exposición de los antígenos para la proliferación y diferenciación de las células efectoras productoras de citoquinas (Bajénoff et al, 2002). Por otro lado, está demostrada la importancia de los linfocitos CD8 al producir un efecto citotóxico En este trabajo se encontraron diferencias en las MIF de las poblaciones linfocitarias CD8 del grupo control con los grupos inoculados en diferentes días pos-infección, lo que demuestra que la participación de CD4 y CD8 en los procesos crónicos de B. ovis puede ser determinante para el control de la infección (Díaz et al, 2013;Costa et al, 2016).…”

“…La epididimitis causada por Brucella ovis (B. ovis) es una enfermedad contagiosa de transmisión venérea que causa falla reproductiva (Moustacas et al, 2013;Costa et al, 2016), y se caracteriza por producir epididimitis, subfertilidad e infertilidad en carneros (Ovis aries) (Galindo et al, 2009b;Ridler et al, 2014). En los carneros, las lesiones crónicas causadas por B. ovis se restringen al aparato genital, específicamente al epidídimo y eventualmente testículos y glándulas asociadas al aparato reproductor (Xavier et al, 2010).…”

Diagnostic Findings in a Confirmed Outbreak of Brucella ovis Infection in a Traditional Sheep Farm in Sicily (South-Italy)

“…Diagnosis of B. ovis infection is based on clinical observation of genital organs, or with the help of laboratory tests such as antibodies detection through serological tests (CFT, ELISA, etc), bacterial isolation from semen and urines, or molecular tests (PCR) to detect DNA of the pathogen [10]. For certainty in the diagnosis, it is appropriate to repeat the sampling as the excretion is often intermittent.…”