Prevalence and genotypes of Chlamydia psittaci in pigeons in Jilin Province, Northeastern China / 中国人兽共患病学报

ABSTRACT

Chlamydia psittaci is a causative agent of psittacosis,which can infect a wide range of hosts including birds and humans.However,information regarding C.psittaci infection in pigeons is scarce.In the present study,a total of 399 fecal samples from pigeons were collected from Jilin Province,northeastern China,between March and May 2015,and examined by nested PCR amplification of outer membrane protein A (ompA) gene.The overall Chlamydiosis prevalence was 5.01％ (21/399),with 3.19％ in Changchun City and 9.40％ in Jilin City.Furthermore,breed was the major risk factor associated with Chlamydia infection in pigeon,boiler pigeons had a prevalence of 7.49％,whereas no C.psittaci was detected in racing pigeons.Sequence analysis of the ompA gene revealed that all the identified isolates represented C.psittaci genotype B.Our results firstly indicated the presence of zoonotic C.psittaci in boiler pigeons in Jilin Province,northeastern China,and effective measures should be implemented to reduce the risk of C.psittaci transmission from pigeons to humans.