Investigation of The Presence of Brucella canis in Dogs in Western Part of Turkey

Abstract

Background: Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection that usually settles in the genital organs, causing chronic, infectious and necrotic inflammatory disorders characterised by abortion and infertility mastitis in females and orchitis, epididymitis and testicular atrophy in male animals. Brucella canis causes Brucella infections in dogs. Less concern has showed to B. canis in Turkey, although dogs usually live in close contact with their owners and there is an increasing incidence of breeding kennels and stray dogs with poor state of health. The scope of this study is to determine the regional prevalance of canine brucellosis caused by Brucella canis using a 2-mercaptaethanol rapid slide agglutination test and species-specific PCR method in the western part of Turkey. Methods: A total of 200 blood samples (80 from Aydýn Province, 60 from Ýzmir Province and 60 from Muðla Province) were collected between March 2019 and February 2020. Serological analysis was performed via mercaptoethanol microagglutination test. Brucella canis-specific PCR procedures were used to detect brucellosis at the molecular level. Result: Twelve (6%) of the serum samples were positive for 2-ME RSAT. B. canis positivity was detected in 10 (5%) out of 200 samples via PCR test. Twelve positive samples were found via 2-ME RSAT and 10 positive samples were found via molecular testing. B. canis positivity was 7.5% in Aydýn and 6.6% in Muðla, as revealed via molecular tests in pet dogs in contact with stray dogs. The presence of B. canis was not observed in the dogs examined from Ýzmir Province, which were not in contact with strays.