Brucellosis caused by Brucella melitensis is an important zoonotic disease in the world. Brucella melitensis is the causative organism of caprine and ovine brucellosis characterized by abortion, retained placenta, orchitis which may induce infertility, epididymitis and rarely, arthritis in small ruminants. However, these lesions were regarded as chronic while acute patho-morphological lesions had not been described in goats earlier. This study investigates the histopathological lesions in organs of native goats of Pakistan acutely infected by Brucella melitensis. Grossly, granulomatous lesions and edema were observed in the lungs of the infected animals. Other organs including liver, spleen, heart and spleen showed no gross lesions during necropsy. Severe histological lesions were observed in the lungs and uterus of acutely infected goats. The organism was detected by PCR from liver, lungs, spleen, uterus, sub mandibular lymph nodes and bronchial lymph nodes. The organism was not detected by PCR from the kidneys, ovaries, mammary glands, supra mammary lymph nodes, internal ileac lymph nodes and scapular lymph nodes. It was concluded that Br. melitensis acute infection did not lead to clinical presentation, although the organism was well distributed in various organs of goats. The lesions were generalized, not limited to reproductive organs.

To Cite This Article: Shahzad A, Xiaoxia D, Khan A, Khan MZ, Saqib M, Gul ST, Saleemi MK and Bayi J, 2018. Patho-morphological valuation of acute infection of Brucella melitensis in goats. Pak Vet J, 38(4): 341-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2018.099