Serological Study on Chlamydophila abortus in Camelus dramedarius using ELISA

| Serological surveys for the detection of Chlamydophila abortus antibodies in Camelus dramedies were performed on 60 blood samples collected from both sex (38 female and 22 male) aged 5 to 12 years of age. The study were extended from June 2015 to September 2016. IDEXX Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay was performed on all serum samples using an ELISA Kit (IDEXX Switzerland). All male camel’s serum samples were negative for presence of Chlamydophila abortus antibodies, whereas 18 out 38 female samples were expressed positive in a percentage of 47.36%. In conclusion, this preliminary study approved presence of Chlamydophila abortus antibodies in she-camels. The authors recommend additional studies in different provinces of Iraq to investigate the general seroprevalence of this disease in the country.


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and other serological examination.Plasma samples were isolated from blood samples with anticoagulant used for detection of alkaline phosphatase, creatinine kinas, glucose, chloride and zinc.Moreover, neutrophils percentage and other hematological investigation including Hb, MCV, MCHC were also done.

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IDEXX Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay using an ELISA kit (IDEXX Swizerland) were done for all serum samples according to the instruction of the manufacturing.

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Total examined serum samples were 6o that constituted 22 and 38 for male and female respectively.All male samples (22 out of 22) of were negative in IDEXX ELISA.While, 18 out of 38 female serum samples in percentage of (47.36%) revealed positive results for Chlamydophila abortus antibodies in IDEXX ELISA.The total percentage of positive samples was 30% (18 out of 60) (Table 1).The IDEXX ELISA positive she-camels were also revealed changes in the hematological and biochemical tests.The levels of total hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and neutrophils were (16% gm/dL), (37%), mean (39% U) and (74%) respectively.Moreover, levels of alkaline phosphatase, creatinine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase were (70% IU/I), (1.89.00%IU/I) and (69 IU/I) that revealed significant result statistically.A reduction in levels of glucose (40 mg/ dL), chloride (105mmol/L), and zinc (40 ug/dL) were also observed in the affected camels (Table 2 and 3).2016) reported an overall 12.25% prevalence of antibodies against chlamydiosis in the Libyan dromedary camel, which was lower than that of this study.Both female and male can infected with C. abortus and male get infection via coitus with infected female.The results of the current study detected the presence of anti-chlamydial antibodies only in serum of the female 47. 36% (18/38) with total percentage 30% (18/ 60), while all male serum were negative.This result is compatible with previous study in Egypt and Tunisia that revealed 11% and 7.6 % positive results of the examined camel's serum respectively (Hussein et al., 2008;Burgemeister et al., 1975).Moreover, the result of the current study is in agreement with Wernery and Wernery, (1990), who detected C. abortusantibodies in the serum of racing and breeding camels in the UAE, with respective prevalence rates of 15 and 24%, respectively.In Saudi Arabia, the sero-prevalence of chlamydiosis was 19.4% with a lower prevalence in male than female (Hussein et al., 2008).The examined male camel's serum were negative in the present study that arein agreement with Hussein et al. (2008).However, Teankum et al. (2007) reported that male camels might be incriminated in transmitting the chlamydial infection.The results of the current study also revealed a significant increase in hemoglobin concentration, Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), Neutrophils percentages, Alkaline phosphatase Creatinine kinase, these results are in agreement with Elzlitne and Elhafi, (2016).These alterations occurred due to C. abortus infection and could be attributed to stimulation of bone marrow stem cells due to Chlamydial infection (Ismael et al., 2016).Moreover, there were significant decrease in Chloride, Zinc, Glucose levels, these results are compatible with Zaher et al. (2017).In conclusion, this study is the first preliminary study on seroprevalence of C. abortus in Iraqi camel (Camelus dromedarius).She-camels were positive in a percentage of 30 %, while all male were negative.Moreover, all seropositive animals were revealed changes in the hematological and biochemical parameters.The authors recommend more other seroprevalnace future studies on Chlamidya abortus in the camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Iraq, accompanied with molecular studies (PCR) to investigate the occurrence of chlamydophilosisin camelids.

table 1 :
shows the positive and negative results of examined serum samples using IDEXX ELISA

table 2 :
Hematological parameters in ELISA Negative camels and ELISA she-positive camels for chlamydia (Mean ± SE)

table 3 :
(Radostits et al., 2007)et al., 2016)ive camels and ELISA she-positive camels for chlamydia (Mean ± SE)Camel is one of the important Iraqi livestock that plays vital role in the social and economic life of Bedouins in several provinces.In Iraq, camel breeding still suffering from poor veterinary service and lack of facilities that help in raising camel accompanied with the changing of environment due to global warming and decreased of water resources(Al Salihi, 2016;Mudhar et al., 2016).One of the most important causes of infectious abortion in animals and human is chlamydiosis(Radostits et al., 2007).It is responsible on great economic loss due to abortion and death of fetus.Chlamydophila abortus is a causative agent, it is a Gram negative intracellular bacteria.