Research Journal for Veterinary Practitioners

Research Article
Res. J. Vet. Pract. 4 (1): 17 - 24
Http://dx.doi.org/10.14737/journal.rjvp/2016/4.1.17.24
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Hosein Hosein Ibrahim1, Sherin Rouby1*, Ahmed Menshawy1, Nabila Ghazy2

1Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt; 2Veterinary Serum and Vaccines Research Institute (VSVR), Abbassia, Egypt.

Abstract | The present study was delineated for investigation of the seroprevalence of brucellosis in camels and characterization of the causative Brucellae affecting camels in Egypt on bacteriological and molecular basis. A serological study using 1126 blood samples collected from Dromedary camels was carried out. The modified Rose Bengal Plate Test (mRBPT) and competitive ELISA (cELISA) were used as screening and confirmatory tests, respectively. The overall sero-prevalence of Brucella antibodies was 4.17% and 3.73% as detected by the mRBPT and c-ELISA respectively. Lymph nodes, testicular tissues, udder tissues and milk from seropositive positive camels were used for isolation of Brucella organisms. Brucella melitensis biovar 3 was isolated from milk of two she- camels. The bacteriological findings suggested that camels were infected from cattle or sheep and goats where Brucella melitensis biovar 3 is prevalent among large and small ruminants in Egypt. The mRBPT was suitable for screening camel sera for brucellosis, but the cELISA was more specific. It is likely that the tendency to raise large flocks of sheep along with the camels in Egypt contributed towards Brucella melitensis infection among camels. DNA extracts of two Brucella melitensis positive milk samples were tested using conventional and Bruce ladder multiplex PCR. Three fragments of 587 bp, 1071 bp and 1682 bp sizes were amplified using multiplex Bruce ladder PCR confirming the bacteriological findings. 

Keywords | Brucellosis, Camel, ELISA, PCR, RBPT