Mycoplasma agalactia incidence in sheep and goats by PCR and culture in Fars province- Iran

Contagious agalactiae is a disease of sheep & goats, which is caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae and induces heavy economic losses. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify M. agalactia from sheep and goats at Fars province. Clinical samples such as milk, eye swabs and synovial fluids were collected from infected animals. The collected samples were transferred in a transport medium which contained PPLO broth, horse serum and yeast extract at cold conditions to the laboratory of Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Shiraz branch. All the samples were carried out by PCR and cultured on PPLO agar too. The results showed that, from the total of 98 milk samples, 18.36% was positive by PCR and 12% in culture for growth of mycoplasma. Out of 80 eye swabs, 11.25% was positive for mycoplasma by culture and the same results obtained by PCR too. In the synovial fluid samples, only 3 out of 8 were shown positive by PCR, that one of them was Mycoplasma agalactia, while none of them were positive in culture. Mycoplasmosis due to M. agalactiae infection is present in the flocks of Fars province. So for a quick detection and epidemiological study of mycoplasma disease PCR was found to be more suitable than the culture. As a vaccine is available mass and on time vaccination of flocks and broader study are recommende.