Abstract
BackgroundInfection with Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis) is one of the most important causes of abortion in goats and sheep, and also causes severe systemic disease in exposed humans. In Ethiopia, based on seroepidemiological studies, brucellosis is known to be endemic. However, there is little information on the isolation and molecular detection of Brucella species in small ruminants. Therefore, the present study was conducted in the Amibara district of Afar Region of Ethiopia to isolate and molecularly detect Brucella infection in small ruminants.ResultsOut of the total 64 samples cultured, eight samples (five vaginal swabs and three milk) were positive for Brucella species based on colony morphology, growth characteristics, modified acid fast staining and biochemical tests results. Further identification using Brucella- ladder PCR method showed that four of the isolates (three from vaginal swabs and one from milk) from goats amplified fragments of 1071 bp, 794 bp, 587 bp, 450 bp and 152 bp in band size. The molecular result combined with the microbiological and biochemical characteristics of the isolates indicated that the isolates were strains of B. melitensis.ConclusionThe finding of this study could suggest economic and zoonotic significance of B. melitensis and warrants for the need for control strategies in livestock and creation of awareness in the pastoral communities on the safe consumption of foods of animal origin and avoidance of physical contact with aborted materials.
Highlights
Infection with Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis) is one of the most important causes of abortion in goats and sheep, and causes severe systemic disease in exposed humans
Three isolates were from milk samples while five were from vaginal swabs collected from goats
Further analysis of the bacteriologically confirmed eight Brucella species using multiplex Bruce-ladder PCR suggested that the four isolates were B. melitensis; while the remaining bacteriologically positive four Brucella species test negative for Brucella by PCR, this might be due to the drawback of the DNA extraction method used, i.e. using heat lysis method of bacterial cell culture as indicated in similar studies, such method can result in very low concentration of the DNA which result in false negative in PCR as compared to commercial kit based DNA extraction method [26]
Summary
Infection with Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis) is one of the most important causes of abortion in goats and sheep, and causes severe systemic disease in exposed humans. The present study was conducted in the Amibara district of Afar Region of Ethiopia to isolate and molecularly detect Brucella infection in small ruminants. Brucellosis is one of the most common bacterial diseases affecting domestic animals, humans and wildlife. It is caused by the slow-growing, gram negative, small coccobacilli bacteria of the genus Brucella capable of surviving and multiplying within epithelial cells, placental trophoblasts, dendritic cells and macrophages [1]. Brucellosis in livestock is mainly caused by B. abortus, B. melitensis, B. suis, B. canis and B. ovis Among these species, B. melitensis and B. ovis are the common cause of brucellosis in sheep and goats [2, 3].
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