Serotyping, antibiogram, and detection of bacterial pathogens associated with bovine respiratory disease in selected areas of Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is a multifactorial and economically important illness of cattle. The current study was designed to characterize the major bacterial pathogens associated with BRD and determine the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of isolates. Samples were collected from 400 pneumonic cases of cattle. RESULTS: Laboratory assay revealed isolation of 376 (94.0%) bacterial pathogens. The most prevalent bacterial pathogens recovered were Mannheimia haemolytica (M. haemolytica) followed by Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida), Histophilus somni (H. somni), and Bibersteinia trehalosi (B. trehalosi) from 191 (50.80%), 81 (21.54%), 56 (14.89%), and 48 (12.77%) samples, respectively. M. haemolytica strains were confirmed using multiplex PCR assay through the amplification of PHSSA (~ 325 bp) and Rpt2 (~ 1022 bp) genes. Capsular typing of P. multocida revealed amplification of serogroup A (hyaD-hyaC) gene (~ 1044 bp) and serogroup D (dcbF) gene (~ 657 bp). B. trehalosi isolates displayed amplification of the sodA gene (~ 144 bp). Besides, serotyping of M. haemolytica showed the distribution of serotype A:1 (82.20%), A:2 (10.47%), and A:6 (7.33%). Whereas, biotyping of P. multocida revealed a higher prevalence of biotype A:3 (83.95%), then A:1 (8.64%), A:2 (4.94%), and A:12 (2.47%). The majority of the retrieved isolates showed remarkable susceptibility to enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, florfenicol, and ceftiofur (100%). Besides, varying degree of antimicrobial resistance was observed against streptomycin, gentamicin, penicillin-G, and ampicillin. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings confirmed that M. haemolytica (A:1) strain is the most common bacterial pathogen identified from BRD cases in the study areas of Ethiopia. Hence, continuous outbreak monitoring and evaluation of antibiotics susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens associated with BRD are indispensable to reduce the impact of BRD in the study areas. Further investigation of bacterial pathogens and genotypic analysis of pathogens from a wider area of the country is essential to design a cost-efficient control strategy.

Sequence-based comparison of field and vaccine strains of infectious bursal disease virus in Ethiopia reveals an amino acid mismatch in the immunodominant VP2 protein.

Sequencing of the VP2 region was carried out to identify amino acid mismatches between vaccine strains and field isolates of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Viruses were isolated in chicken embryo fibroblast (DF-1) cells using pooled samples of bursa collected from nine outbreaks, which affected 30,250 chickens in five localities, with an overall mortality of 47.87%. Virus strains were identified by comparing the deduced amino acid sequence between positions 232 and 446 of the immunodominant VP2 epitope. All of the pooled samples were positive for IBDV. RT-PCR yielded a 645-bp DNA fragment of the VP2 gene. Phylogenetic analysis of this fragment revealed clustering of these isolates with very virulent IBDV strains. The amino acid sequences of these isolates were identical to those of the European very virulent strains UK 661 and DV 86, except at position 222, but differed from the vaccine strains used in Ethiopia, suggesting the possible introduction of virulent virus strains to Ethiopia from Europe. Our study demonstrates the widespread presence of very virulent strains of IBDV on poultry farms in Ethiopia and demonstrates the need to evaluate the protective level of existing vaccines against circulating field viruses.