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Prevalence, molecular diagnosis and treatment of Mycoplasma conjunctivae isolated from infectious keratoconjunctivitis affected Lohi sheep maintained at Livestock Experiment Station, Bahadurnagar, Okara, Pakistan

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Abstract

Mycoplasma conjunctivae are etiological agents of infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC), commonly known as pink-eye in domestic sheep, goats and other wild animals in many parts of the world. A few young Lohi lambs maintained at Livestock Experiment Station (LES), Bahadurnagar, Okara, Pakistan showed clinical signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis, keratitis, severe lacrimation and varying degree of blindness. During January to March, 2011, a total of 36 ocular swabs were collected from IKC affected animals and were processed for isolation, identification, and characterization of M. conjunctivae. Sixteen (44.44 %) out of 36 samples showed turbidity in PPLO broth. Twelve (75 %) out of 16 broth samples showed colony growth on PPLO agar. All 16 (44.44 %) out of 36 turbid broth samples, 12 (75 %) out of 16 cultured on agar plate samples, and 21 (59 %) out of 36 sheep ocular direct swab samples were found positive for M. conjunctivae through polymerase chain reaction test by using M. conjunctivae-specific primer pair McoF1 and McoR1 and detecting a 750 base pair fragment on agarose gel. Topical application of 0.5 % sterile solution of gentamycin (100 mg/ml) (Gentafar 10 %, FARVET, Netherlands) proved suitable for the treatment of IKC in Lohi lambs as all clinical signs of IKC disappeared after 5 days of treatment with this antibiotic. This is the first report about the prevalence, molecular diagnosis, and treatment of M. conjunctivae in Lohi sheep affected with infectious keratoconjunctivitis at LES, Bahadurnagar, Okara, Pakistan.

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Acknowledgments

The author is thankful to Director, Livestock Production Research Institute, Bahadurnagar, Okara for providing necessary research facilities. Partial support for this research study was provided through the project of Government of Punjab titled “Up-gradation of research facilities at LPRI, Bahadurnagar, Okara”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Livestock Production Research Institute Bahadurnagar, Okara, Punjab, Pakistan

    Waseem Shahzad, Rashid Ahmad, Ghulam Akbar & Fayyaz Mehmood

  2. Veterinary Research Institute, Lahore, Pakistan

    Rashid Munir

  3. University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan

    Mohammad Younus Rana, Mohammad Sarwar Khan & Mohammad Ijaz

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  1. Waseem Shahzad
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  2. Rashid Munir
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  3. Mohammad Younus Rana
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Correspondence to Waseem Shahzad.

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Shahzad, W., Munir, R., Rana, M.Y. et al. Prevalence, molecular diagnosis and treatment of Mycoplasma conjunctivae isolated from infectious keratoconjunctivitis affected Lohi sheep maintained at Livestock Experiment Station, Bahadurnagar, Okara, Pakistan. Trop Anim Health Prod 45, 737–742 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-012-0282-2

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