Chronic incurable mastitis in sheep: prevalence, identification of predisposing factors, and genotyping of fungal causative species using PCR-RFLP.

Mycotic mastitis is a neglected problem type of incurable chronic mastitis in sheep flock of many countries which associated with wide economic burden. In the current study, a total of 600 ewes at Menofia governorate, Egypt, were subjected to clinical and molecular examination using PCR-RFLP to estimate the prevalence of chronic mycotic mastitis and identify the causative agent. A structured questionnaire is distributed to shepherds in the study area to identify the risky behavioral practices being followed and lead to increase the prevalence of mycotic mastitis cases. The results showed that out of 600 ewes examined, 150 showed clinical signs of mastitis (25%). A total of 25 ewes with clinical mastitis did not respond to antibiotic treatment for long time and suffered from mycotic mastitis (16.7%, CI 11.1-23.6%). A total of 31 fungal isolates were identified: 14 yeast spp., Candida albicans, Candida parapasilosis, Candida rugosa, and Saccharomyces spp. and 17 mold spp., Alternaria spp., and Fusarium spp. Results showed also the widespread of risky practices among shepherds which could be responsible for the increase the prevalence of mycotic mastitis among ewes in the study area including presenting of decayed food to sheep, uncontrolled usage of antibiotics for mastitis treatment, lack of usage of antiseptics, and keeping of chronic infected animals in flocks for breeding. In conclusions, using of specific ITS1 and ITS4 primer sets with PCR-RFLP technique provided a suitable method for rapid identification and genotyping of Candida spp., Scaccharomyces, Alternaria, and Fusarium vertolliodes isolated from chronic mastitis in sheep. Furthermore, this study is considered up to our knowledge one of scarce estimates available on mycotic mastitis in sheep flocks in Egypt. Mycotic mastitis existed at higher prevalence estimates in the study area and educational campaigns to shepherds are much required to increase their awareness on the threat of risky of behaviors responsible for spread of the disease among their animals.