Katsiolis Aristomenis, Papanikolaou Eleni, Stournara Athanasia, Giakkoupi Panagiota, Papadogiannakis Emmanouil, Zdragas Antonis, Giadinis Nektarios D, Petridou Evanthia
Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Laboratory of Biology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527, Athens, Greece.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2022 Apr 28;54(3):173. doi: 10.1007/s11250-022-03175-x.
Brucellosis is a worldwide distributed infectious disease. Ruminants and other animal species (swine, dogs, equids, etc.), as well as wild mammals, can be affected. The disease can be transmitted to humans through the food chain or by direct contact with infected animals. Because of the relatively high economic burden due to abortions within a herd, significant efforts have been employed and hence the disease in most European countries has been eradicated. Accordingly, Greece applies both control and eradication programs concerning small ruminants (sheep and goats) and bovines depending on the geographical area. Current challenges in the standard antibody-based laboratory methods used for Brucella detection are the failure to differentiate antibodies against the wild strain from the ones against the vaccine strain Rev1 and antibodies against B. melitensis from those against B. abortus. The aim of the study was to reexamine and combine previously published protocols based on PCR analysis and to generate a rapid, not expensive, and easy to perform diagnostic tool able to confirm the doubtful results delivered from serology. For this reason, 264 samples derived from 191 ruminants of the farm and divided in 2 groups (male/female) were examined with a modified DNA extraction and PCR protocol. Molecular examination revealed the presence of Brucella spp. in 39 out of 264 samples (derived from 30 animals). In addition, Brucella spp. was detected in infected tissues such as testicles, inguinal lymph nodes, fetal liver, and fetal stomach content.
布鲁氏菌病是一种全球分布的传染病。反刍动物和其他动物物种（猪、狗、马等）以及野生哺乳动物都可能感染。该疾病可通过食物链或直接接触受感染动物传播给人类。由于畜群内流产造成的经济负担相对较高，人们已付出巨大努力，因此大多数欧洲国家已根除该疾病。相应地，希腊根据地理区域对小型反刍动物（绵羊和山羊）和牛实施控制和根除计划。目前用于布鲁氏菌检测的基于抗体的标准实验室方法面临的挑战是无法区分针对野生菌株的抗体与针对Rev1疫苗菌株的抗体，以及无法区分针对羊种布鲁氏菌的抗体与针对牛种布鲁氏菌的抗体。本研究的目的是重新审视并结合先前发表的基于PCR分析的方案，生成一种快速、经济且易于操作的诊断工具，能够确认血清学检测得出的可疑结果。因此，对来自该农场191只反刍动物的264份样本进行了分组（雄性/雌性），并采用改良的DNA提取和PCR方案进行检测。分子检测显示，264份样本中有39份（来自30只动物）存在布鲁氏菌属。此外，在睾丸、腹股沟淋巴结、胎儿肝脏和胎儿胃内容物等受感染组织中也检测到了布鲁氏菌属。
