Isolation and Identification of from Aborted Ewes in Sulaimani Province, Northern Iraq.

Abortion in small ruminants is a significant problem in Iraq and causes severe economic losses in sheep farms. causes enzootic abortion in ewes and is associated with reproductive problems in sheep in Sulaimani province - Northern Iraq. During a lambing season in 2017, abortion was widespread among several sheep flocks in different regions of Sulaimani (Kalar, Said Sadiq, and Chamchamal), and was one of the causes. Accordingly, we carried out this study to isolate and identify in aborted ewes in these regions. We collected 30 samples of aborted fetuses from five herds in which abortions had been observed. The pathogen isolation was done by inoculation into embryonated chicken eggs and conventional PCR was used to identify in clinical specimens. was identified in one of the 30 aborted fetuses (3.33%) from the Kalar district, and all the remaining 29 samples (96.66%) were found positive to . The gene encoding the outer membrane protein of was sequenced and got the accession number MK643153 in NCBI GenBank. The sequence was named strain Sul/2017. Our isolate showed 99.79% homology with Sul/014 (accession No. KY399850) and differed from the latter by two amino acid substitutions at E115K and K259N. The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on the gene showed that the isolate belongs to and has a common ancestor with isolates of sheep in Iraq and Tunisia with accession numbers KY399850 and HQ62243, respectively. Abortion in small ruminants is a significant problem in Iraq and causes severe economic losses in sheep farms. causes enzootic abortion in ewes and is associated with reproductive problems in sheep in Sulaimani province – Northern Iraq. During a lambing season in 2017, abortion was widespread among several sheep flocks in different regions of Sulaimani (Kalar, Said Sadiq, and Chamchamal), and was one of the causes. Accordingly, we carried out this study to isolate and identify in aborted ewes in these regions. We collected 30 samples of aborted fetuses from five herds in which abortions had been observed. The pathogen isolation was done by inoculation into embryonated chicken eggs and conventional PCR was used to identify in clinical specimens. was identified in one of the 30 aborted fetuses (3.33%) from the Kalar district, and all the remaining 29 samples (96.66%) were found positive to . The gene encoding the outer membrane protein of was sequenced and got the accession number MK643153 in NCBI GenBank. The sequence was named strain Sul/2017. Our isolate showed 99.79% homology with Sul/014 (accession No. KY399850) and differed from the latter by two amino acid substitutions at E115K and K259N. The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on the gene showed that the isolate belongs to and has a common ancestor with isolates of sheep in Iraq and Tunisia with accession numbers KY399850 and HQ62243, respectively.