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Molecular detection of Brucella species among aborted small ruminants in southeast Iran

  • Veterinary Microbiology - Research Paper
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Abstract

Brucellosis, caused by Brucella bacteria, is a common zoonotic infectious disease with various clinical manifestations in humans and animals. The disease is endemic in human and ruminant populations in Iran, with a particular prevalence in areas where humans have close interactions with livestock. Since domestic animals serve as the primary reservoir for brucellosis, this study aimed to identify the presence of Brucella spp. among aborted small ruminants in southeast Iran. Between 2021 and 2022, aborted fetuses of small ruminants (46 sheep and 4 goats) were collected from Zarand County in the Kerman province. Swab samples from the abomasum contents of these fetuses were obtained and subjected to DNA extraction. The samples were then tested for Brucella spp. detection using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Out of the 50 aborted fetuses examined, Brucella spp. was detected in 15 (30%) specimens, comprising 13 (28%) sheep and 2 (50%) goats. Species ty** revealed the presence of Brucella ovis (6 sheep and 1 goat), Brucella melitensis (6 sheep), and Brucella abortus (1 sheep) among the positive specimens. This cross-sectional study highlights the high prevalence of various Brucella species in samples from small ruminant abortions in southeast Iran. Additionally, the identified Brucella species were not limited to their primary host livestock. These indicated potential cross-species transmission among small ruminants.

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Acknowledgements

We express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the following organizations and departments for their invaluable contributions and support in conducting this study: the Department of Bacteriology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Shahid Bahoner Kerman University, the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Pasteur Institute of Iran, the Reference and Bacteriology Laboratories of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Shahid Bahoner University of Kerman, the General Veterinary Department of the province, the veterinary network of Zarand city, and the veterinary treatment centers of the private sector of Zarand city.

Their collaboration and assistance were instrumental in carrying out our research successfully, and we are truly grateful for their support.

Funding

This research received funding from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman (Kerman, Iran) as part of an MSc thesis grant.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Amin Alirezaei and Mohammad Khalili contributed equally to this project and should be considered the first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Amin Alirezaei, Mohammad Khalili & Elham Mohammadi Damaneh

  2. National Reference Laboratory of Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar-Ahang, Hamadan, Iran

    Neda Baseri & Saber Esmaeili

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

    Neda Baseri & Saber Esmaeili

  4. Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Neda Baseri

  5. Veterinary Organization of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Sedigheh Kazeminia

Authors
  1. Amin Alirezaei
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  2. Mohammad Khalili
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  4. Saber Esmaeili
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  5. Elham Mohammadi Damaneh
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Contributions

AA: conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, software, validation, visualization, writing – original draft. MKh: conceptualization, data curation, funding acquisition, investigation, project administration, resources, supervision, validation, visualization. NB: investigation, methodology, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing. SE: conceptualization, investigation, resources, validation, writing – review and editing. EM.d: methodology. SK: methodology. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Neda Baseri or Saber Esmaeili.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman and Pasteur Institute of Iran (No. IR.PII.REC.1398.05). All methods and instructions were performed under institutional guidelines and regulations and were reported in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org) and the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Farmers permitted (with informed consent) their animal samples to be included in this study.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Alirezaei, A., Khalili, M., Baseri, N. et al. Molecular detection of Brucella species among aborted small ruminants in southeast Iran. Braz J Microbiol 55, 911–917 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-023-01191-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-023-01191-z

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