Bacteriological and molecular characterization of Brucella isolates from sheep and goats

T his study reported on a sporadic, naturally acquired infection of sheep and goats with Brucella on a private farm in El- Menofya Gover-norate, Egypt. The abortions, which occurred in a flock of 46 sheep and 33 goats, involved six ewes and five does at the third month of gesta-tion. Serum samples from the flock were examined for Brucella antibodies using rose bengal test (RBT), Tube Agglutination Test (TAT) , indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (I ELISA) and were further confirmed using complement fixation test (CFT) gave 18(39.1%), 16(34.8%), 19 (41.3%), and 17(37%) in sheep; respectively, while in goats revealed 11 (33.3%), 8(24.2%), 12(36.4%), and 11(33.3%) respectively. Tissue samples were collected from 28 positive animals, as detected by CFT, at slaughter-ing. The bacteriological results revealed 44 isolates which were biochemi-cally identified as B. melitensis biovar3. The highest recovery rate was obtained from supra mammary lymph nodes (22/28; 78.6%), followed by spleen (15/28; 53.6%), and finally liver (7/28; 25%).The distribution of the virulence genes among 44 B. melitensis isolates revealed that Omp 25 recorded the highest incidence 44(100%), then followed wbkA 43(97.7%) and manB 42 (95.5%) . The high prevalence of virulence-associated genes among the B. melitensis