K. Prabhudas

Seroprevalence of Peste des petits ruminants in cattle and buffaloes from Southern Peninsular India

This study describes seroprevalence of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in cattle and buffaloes carried out during the period 2009–2010 using the randomly collected serum samples from different parts of Southern peninsular India. The report presents the results of PPR virus (PPRV)—specific antibodies in situations where either the subclinical or inapparent or non-lethal infection was there in cattle and buffaloes. A total of 2,548 serum samples [cattle = 1,158, buffaloes = 1,001, sheep = 303 and goat = 86] were collected and screened for PPRV antibodies by using a PPR monoclonal antibody-based competitive ELISA kit. Analysis of 2,159 serum samples indicates an overall 4.58% prevalence of PPRV antibody in cattle and buffaloes. The presence of PPRV-specific antibodies demonstrates that cattle and buffaloes are exposed to PPR infection naturally, and the transmission mode may be direct or indirect. Further, it implies the importance of bovines as subclinical hosts for the virus besides widespread presence of the disease in sheep and goats in the country.

Characterization of leptospira isolates from animals and humans: phylogenetic analysis identifies the prevalence of intermediate species in India

In this study, 191 culture isolates were recovered from suspected samples of animals and humans in Ellinghausen McCullough Johnson and Harris (EMJH) medium and assessed for its morphological features by dark field microscopy. Extracted DNA from individual culture was subjected to different PCR assays for identification and characterization of leptospira. Out of 99 positive leptospira cultures, 52 pathogenic leptospira isolates were characterized at species level by using partial RNA polymerase β-subunit (rpoB) gene sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences revealed that 30, 8, and 14 isolates belong to L. borgpetersenii / L. interrogans, L. kirschneri, and Leptospira intermediate species, respectively. Based on analysis of 99 leptospira isolates, the prevalent Leptospira species were L. borgpetersenii or L. interrogans (30.30%), L. kirschneri (8%) and Leptospira intermediate species (14.14%) in animals and humans. To the best of authors knowledge, this is the first study to use rpoB gene nucleotide sequence based phylogenetic analysis to identify/detect Leptospira intermediate species (L. wolffii) in animals and humans in India. Hence, the prevalence of this species will surely emphasize the importance of consideration of Leptospira intermediate species and formulate a way for further studies especially in understanding the newly emerging Leptospira in animals and humans and to combat the problem associated with the disease conditions.

Molecular typing of Brucella species isolates from livestock and human

Although host specificity has been observed in different species of Brucella, crossing the animal host boundary is likely to occur at any time. In this study, Bruce ladder PCR and abortus–melitensis–ovis–suis (AMOS) PCR assays were used to characterize 47 Brucella isolates from Indian origin in order to know exact species for understanding epidemiology of brucellosis. Out of them, 28, 14, and 5 isolates were found to be Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis, and Brucella suis, respectively. Further analysis by AMOS PCR has identified that all the B. abortus isolates belong to any one of the biovar 1, 2, or 4; of the five B. suis isolates, three belong to biovar 1 and two belong to any one of the biovar 2, 3, 4, or 5. Although this multiplex Bruce ladder PCR is useful in differentiating all Brucella species, elaborate study is required to further characterize the isolates at exact biovar level.