[Epidemiologic study data on foci of enzootic abortion of sheep in Rostov Province].

Epidemiological and serological investigations of diseases among cattle-breeders aimed at the elucidation of the etiological importance of mammalian Chlamydia in human pathology were carried out in cattle-breeding farms where Chlamydial infection in sheep (enzootic abortion of sheep) had been diagnosed previously. In these foci with the suppressed enzootic process from 6.2% to 15.6% of the personnel attending to the animals were found to be infected. Retrospectively, patients and convalescents were found whose sera gave positive results in tests with the group Chlamydial antigen when the infection with the agent of ornithosis had been excluded. Among the seropositive subjects, 61.7% had the history of a clinical disease with symptomocomplex of the affection of the respiratory tract or locomotor system; 37.3% denied the disease which suggests the possibility of a latent infection. The foregoing indicates a possible role of mammalian Chlamydia in the etiology of human disease and the necessity of further thorough clinical and epidemiological study of this possibility.