Molecular Characterization of
Brucella abortus and
Brucella
melitensis in Cattle and
Humans at the North West of Pakistan
Muhammad Zahoor Khan1,3, Tahir Usman1,2*,
Ummer Sadique3, Muhammad Subhan Qureshi3,
Mohammad Farooque Hassan4,
Muhammad Shahid5 and Adnan Khan1,3
1Key
Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics and Breeding, National
Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal
Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing
100193, PR China; 2College of Veterinary Science and
Animal Husbandry, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan;
3Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary
Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan; 4Shaheed
Benazir Bhutto University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Sakrand,
Sindh, Pakistan; 5Microbiology and Biotechnology Center,
Veterinary Research Institute, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar,
Pakistan *Corresponding author:
tahircau@gmail.com; tahirusman@awkum.edu.pk
Abstract
Brucellosis is a fatal zoonotic disease caused by
members of the genus Brucella,
resulting in significant reproductive losses in animals. The present
study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of Brucella abortus and
Brucella melitensis by screening the
serum of the blood samples through Serum Plate Agglutination Test (SPAT) assay
and by duplex PCR. Blood samples were randomly collected from cattle (n=200) and
human (n=200), and were placed in two groups with
respect to their contact (direct and indirect) with cattle. The overall
prevalence of brucellosis in cattle and human through SPAT assay was 15 and 6%,
respectively. Amongst human, the prevalence was 10% in female and 2% in the
male. The high rate of infection was found
in females than males due to their frequent contact with cattle compared to
males in the study area. Molecular diagnosis using duplex PCR showed 13 and 4%
prevalence of brucellosis in cattle and human, respectively. The duplex PCR
revealed 6 and 2% positive cases in female and male, respectively (P>0.05).
Collectively, these results suggested a high
prevalence of the diseases in humans
(females) having direct contact with cattle. Furthermore, the results infer that
the optimized PCR approach is
more efficacious, specific and reliable compared to the routine conventional
SPAT assay.