Identification and genotyping of Chlamydia abortus with MLVA from ruminant abortions in the Marmara region of Turkey

Abstract

Abortion in ruminants is an important problem in Turkey and it leads to serious economic losses for farmers. The aim of this study is to diagnose Chlamydia abortus in ruminant abortions in the Marmara Region of Turkey and to determine the genotypes of the agent and obtain the first national epidemiological data in this sense. For this purpose, a total of 730 abortion materials (fetal tissue, fetal stomach contents, placentas, cotyledons, vaginal swabs) belonging to 267 cattle, 380 sheep, 70 goats and 13 water buffaloes were examined for C. abortus with species specific real-time PCR. DNAs of positive samples were genotyped by the Multilocus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) method. From 730 materials, 87 (11.9%) were found positive for C. abortus. Positivity rates were 21.4% in goats, 16.6% in sheep, 7.7% in water buffaloes and 3% in cattle. The dominant genotype was found to be MLVA genotype 2 (93.1%), and 4 different genotypes including genotypes 3, 4, and 5 were involved in infections. So it is concluded that genotypic diversity of C. abortus is high in the Marmara region. It was also revealed that C. abortus was responsible for a significant proportion of small ruminant abortions in this region.