Khushboo Singh¹, Bharat Singh Chandel¹, Abidali I Dadawala¹, Shoor Vir Singh^2*, Harshad C. Chauhan¹,
Brajesh Singh², Narottam Das Agrawal², Saurabh Gupta², Kundan Kumar Chaubey2
¹Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar- 385506, Gujarat, India; ²Microbiology Laboratory, Animal Health Division, Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, PO - Farah, Dist.- Mathura, 281 122, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author: shoorvir.singh@gmail.com; shoorvir_singh@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
The study on incidence of Johne’s disease in goat envisaged detection of MAP antibodies, clinico-pathological observations in naturally infected goats, detection of MAP in feces and blood. More than 70 percent goats showed the clinical symptoms of loss of appetite, dullness, emaciation, loss of hairs (alopecia), pasty or loose feces suggestive of Johne’s disease. A total of 200 serum samples were screened for detecting presence of MAP antibodies using indigenous ELISA (i-ELISA) kit yielding 63.5% seroprevalence. Samples viz., feces and rectal pinch were collected from 50 goats (strong reactors in ELISA) were screened for MAP bacilli by Z-N staining. Out of these, 14 (28.0%) showed the presence of acid fast bacilli indistinguishable to MAP, whereas none of the goat was positive in rectal pinch smear. This study was further followed by detection of MAP genome in feces of direct microscopy positive animals and blood from strong positive ELISA reactors by IS900 PCR. Of 14 fecal and 50 blood samples, 1 (7.14%) and 6 (12.0%) were positive in fecal and blood PCR, respectively.

Key Words: Johne’s disease, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, prevalence, ELISA, Mehsana goat