Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Sciences

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the brucellosis in sheep herds that showed, disease and signs of abortion in different regions of the Nineveh province. The study involved randomly collection of three thousand blood samples from 22 herds of sheep and from each blood samples, 485 (sheep 425 and rams 60) were tested for Rose-Bengal plate test (RBPT) as well as Tube agglutination test (TAT), then confirmed these diagnosis of the positive and negative samples of RBPT and TAT by using the polymerase chain reaction technique. The results showed variation in abortion rates 11.9% in herds under study depending on the history of the condition, which amounted from 1.6 - 21.1 %, while the abortion rates in herds based on the examination of a Rose-Bengal reach 5.4%. It was also noted a significant increase in the proportion of infected males (rams) brucellosis which reached 50%. The study found that the percentage of compatibility between the RBPT and TAT of the serum was 90.7%. Using two pairs of primers, the first one, Brucella OMP2 (193 base pairs) use to identify the genius of the Brucella, while the other pairs of primers use as specific (731 base pairs) to identify the strain of Br. melitensis only. Application of Brucella OMP2 primers on some selected result of positive and negative samples of RBPT and TAT by using PCR technique gives compatibility rate reach 94.4%.