Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Microbiology

The chlamydiae are a diverse group of obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are known to infect a wide variety of host species. The present study wasconducted to detect the incidence of Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorumamong cattle, sheep and goats. It was carried out on two groups of animals: the first one consists of apparently healthy cattle (n=35), sheep (n=8) and goats (n=23). The second one consists of diseased cattle (n=14), sheep (n=21) and goats (n=18) with different clinical findings such as: respiratory disorders, keratoconjunctivitis, vaginitis, abortion and diarrheaand the source of specimens were fecal (n=40), nasal (n=30), ocular (n=3) and vaginal samples (n=18). Moreover samples from internal organs (n=10) and sera (n=65) were also collected.Criteria of samples examination for detection of Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorum were as follow: CFT was used for determination of Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorum antibodies and antigen, Indirect Immunofluorescence test was used to confirm the presence of inclusion bodies of Chlamydia spp., Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorum were isolated by inoculation in 7-day old ECE via yolk sac route, TEM was used to confirm the presence of inclusion bodies of Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorum in infected yolk sac andThe collected internal organs from animals were stained by Giemsa stain for detection of inclusion bodies of Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia pecorum. Results of CFT reveal that serum samples of cattle, sheep and goats were positive for Chlamydia spp. antibodies in a rate of 85%, fecal samples in cattle, sheep and goats showed positive results for Chlamydia spp. antigen in a rate of 77.5%, while vaginal swabs in sheep and goats showed positive results for Chlamydia spp. antigen in a rate of 70%, whereasnasal swabs in cattle and sheep showed positive results for Chlamydia spp. antigen in a rate of 77% and all ocular swabs in sheep showed positive results for Chlamydia spp. antigen

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