Mohan K, Makaya P V, Muvavarirwa P, Matope G, Mahembe E, Pawandiwa A
Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zimbabwe.
Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1996 Mar;63(1):47-51.
Brucellosis in dairy cattle is endemic in Zimbabwe. The prevalence continues to be monitored intensively. Only milk and serum samples are routinely screened. Attempts to culture Brucella spp. from clinical specimens are seldom made. Consequently, incidence of various Brucella spp. within Zimbabwe is virtually unknown, despite the high serepositivity reported. This information is paramount in understanding the transmission cycle and is also significant to public health; particularly as B melitensis infects humans more often than do the other brucellae. This paper describes the results of bacteriological and serological investigations of brucellosis in a dairy from near Bulawayo. The said farm was selected for the present pilot study because of the high incidence of reported abortion. The milk ring test was employed to test the bulk pooled milk samples once a month for 14 months. The test was recorded highly positive on all 14 occasions. To locate reactors, milk samples from 36 individual cows were similarly tested. Of these, 21 (almost 59%) were found to be reacting positively. One hundred and seventy-seven animals were marked for serotesting. Of these 40 (approximately 25%) showed quite high serum titres (> 1:360) in both the STT and the Rosebengal test. The farmer was advised to havet all abortions full investigated. However, all the clinical material from cases of abortion, except one, were received in an advanced state of putrefaction. From this, Brucella was isolated on culture from stomach contents and cotyledons. The isolates from both the sites were characterized in detail, employing dye inhibition, phagetyping; the oxidative metabolic test and agglutination with monospecific sera. Both the isolates belonged to B. abortus biovar I, which was confirmed by the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Weybridge. The significance of isolation and the need to intensify similar studies have been discussed.
奶牛布鲁氏菌病在津巴布韦呈地方流行。其流行情况仍在持续密切监测中。通常仅对牛奶和血清样本进行筛查。很少尝试从临床样本中培养布鲁氏菌属。因此，尽管报告的血清阳性率很高，但津巴布韦境内各种布鲁氏菌属的发病率实际上并不清楚。这些信息对于理解传播周期至关重要，对公共卫生也很重要；特别是因为马尔他布鲁氏菌比其他布鲁氏菌更常感染人类。本文描述了对布拉瓦约附近一个奶牛场布鲁氏菌病进行细菌学和血清学调查的结果。由于报告的流产发生率很高，该农场被选用于本次试点研究。每月对混合牛奶样本进行一次乳环试验，共进行了14个月。在所有14次试验中，该试验结果均呈强阳性。为了找出反应阳性的奶牛，对36头个体奶牛的牛奶样本进行了同样的检测。其中，21头（近59%）被发现反应呈阳性。对177头动物进行了血清检测标记。其中40头（约25%）在标准试管凝集试验和玫瑰红试验中均显示出相当高的血清滴度（>1:360）。建议农场主对所有流产病例进行全面调查。然而，除了一例之外，所有流产病例的临床样本送来时都已处于高度腐败状态。从这些样本中，从胃内容物和子叶中培养出了布鲁氏菌。对从两个部位分离出的菌株进行了详细鉴定，采用了染料抑制试验、噬菌体分型、氧化代谢试验以及用单特异性血清进行凝集试验。两个分离株均属于流产布鲁氏菌生物变种I，这一点得到了韦布里奇中央兽医研究实验室的证实。文中讨论了分离出布鲁氏菌的意义以及加强类似研究的必要性。
