Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis and Q fever in Korean black goats

ABSTRACT

As the meat of black goats has become popular as a healthy food, domestic goat meat-related industries are steadily growing. However, previous studies are scarce of informations about the zoonotic disease originated from the black goat in Korea. In this study, we investigated Korean black goat's infectious diseases representing bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, and Q fever. One hundred and eighty samples were collected from a local slaughter house located in Jeollanam-do. Three typical zoonotic diseases were separately examined by carrying out enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Histopathological test was additionally performed in tuberculosis. In case of tuberculosis, results of the PCR and histopathological test were negative but the ELISA results were positive in eight samples. In case of brucellosis, one out of the total samples was shown to be positive in the ELISA and none in the PCR. In case of Q fever, there were forty one positive in the ELISA and twenty positive in the real-time PCR. Those results indicate that the Korean black goat could be a natural reservoir in the possible chain-infections among human, cows and goats. Thus, further study needs in order to improve productivity as well as to prevent the zoonosis spreading and circulation of other livestock with the black goat in this country.