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Potential pathogens in infertile male dromedary camels and their association with the spermiogram and clinical findings

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Abstract

The role of five pathogens potentially implicated in the reproductive failure of 141 male dromedary camels was investigated. Breeding soundness examinations, which included semen analysis and testicular histopathology of the infertile male camels, were compared with seven camels of normal fertility. Antibodies against Chlamydia abortus (C. abortus) and Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) were detected using the ELISA assay. Antibodies against Trypanosoma evansi (T. evansi) were identified using the card agglutination test. The Rose Bengal plate agglutination test was used to detect Brucella species. Preputial swabs were cultured for the presence of Campylobacter fetus (C. fetus). The incidence of positive titers of C. abortus and T. evansi, and the incidence of positive culture of C. fetus was found to be 13.5, 10.6, and 7.8%, respectively. T. evansi was more prevalent in younger (5–7 years) than older (more than 7 years) camels (p = 0.02). Most of the semen characteristics were negatively affected in the camels exposed to C. abortus and T. evansi (p = 0.05). T. evansi, C. fetus, and C. abortus may have a role in lowering the reproductive efficiency of male dromedaries. However, further diagnostic techniques are recommended to confirm their association with lowered fertility in this species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. N. Peachy, professor of English, Qassim University, for her assistance in editing and revising the manuscript linguistically.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim, Saudi Arabia

    Derar Refaat Derar, Ahmed Ali, Salama A Osman, Fahd A Al-Sobayil, Elhassan MA Saeed & Abd-Allah Al-Hawas

  2. Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    Derar Refaat Derar & Ahmed Ali

  3. Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt

    Salama A Osman

  4. Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    K Hassanein

Authors
  1. Derar Refaat Derar
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  2. Ahmed Ali
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  3. Salama A Osman
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  4. Fahd A Al-Sobayil
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  5. Elhassan MA Saeed
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  6. K Hassanein
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  7. Abd-Allah Al-Hawas
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Contributions

Derar, Ali, Osman, Hassanein, and Saeed conceived and designed the review. Derar, Ali, Al-Sobayil, Saeed, Hassanein, and Al-Hawas executed the experiment. Ali, Osman, and Derar analyzed the data. Derar and Ali interpreted the data, critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual contents, and approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Derar Refaat Derar.

Ethics declarations

This study complies with the current laws and regulations in Saudi Arabia regarding animal rights and informed of the submission to this journal.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethics statement

All aspects of the current study, including the management of the animals during clinical examination, semen collection, and testicular and preputial sampling were approved by the Scientific Deanship of Qassim University and were in compliance with national and international disciplines and ethics for animal rights.

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Derar, D.R., Ali, A., Osman, S.A. et al. Potential pathogens in infertile male dromedary camels and their association with the spermiogram and clinical findings. Comp Clin Pathol 26, 965–970 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-017-2461-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-017-2461-z

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