Clinical, histopathological, and molecular characterization of Mycoplasma species in sheep and goats in Egypt

Walid S Mousa; Ahmed A Zaghawa; Ahmed M Elsify; Mohamed A Nayel; Zarroug H Ibrahim; Khalid A Al-Kheraije; Hesham R Elhalafawy; Dina El-Shafey; Anis Anis; Akram A Salama

doi:10.14202/vetworld.2021.2561-2567

Clinical, histopathological, and molecular characterization of Mycoplasma species in sheep and goats in Egypt

Vet World. 2021 Sep;14(9):2561-2567. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.2561-2567. Epub 2021 Sep 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Egypt.
² Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, College Veterinary Medicine, Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁴ Department of Mycoplasma, Animal Health Research Institute, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Egypt.

Abstract

Background and aim: Mycoplasma infection in small ruminants is a serious problem in sheep and goat herds around the world. It is responsible for high economic losses and decreased animal productivity. This study aimed to highlight the clinical, histopathological, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and molecular characterization of Mycoplasma species in sheep and goats in Menoufiya Governorate, Egypt.

Materials and methods: A total of 234 samples were collected; 104 samples were collected from pneumonic lung tissues from the abattoir, in addition, 10 and 20 samples collected from apparently and diseased sheep, respectively, and 40 and 60 samples were collected from apparently and diseased goats, respectively, which were subjected to isolation onto pleuropneumonia-like organism medium. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), histopathological examination, and determination of the MIC were also performed.

Results: Of 104 samples of lung tissues showing pneumonic lesions, 56 (53.84%) were positive for Mycoplasma isolation. The positive isolation of Mycoplasma from 10 and 20 samples from apparently and diseased sheep was 30% and 40%, respectively as well as the positive isolation of Mycoplasma was 17% and 56.66% out of 40 and 60 apparently healthy and diseased field goat's cases, respectively. All the diseased sheep and goats showed respiratory manifestations, including cough, bilateral nasal discharge, conjunctivitis, and systemic reaction. Evaluation of the MIC for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae revealed that lincospectin and tylosin were the most effective antibiotics at 2.5 mg/mL. Histopathological examination of affected lung tissue showed extensive hemorrhagic pneumonia with extensive alveolar hemorrhage. The PCR technique proved to be a rapid, specific, and sensitive method for the detection of M. ovipneumoniae and Mycoplasma arginini at 390 and 326 bp, respectively.

Conclusion: M. ovipneumoniae and M. arginini were the most prevalent species associated with respiratory infections in sheep and goats in the study area. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of these species in dissemination of the disease within herds of small ruminants.

Keywords: Mycoplasma; goats; minimum inhibitory concentration; polymerase chain reaction; prevalence; sheep.