Abattoir isolation and microbiological identification of field isolates of Pasteurella multocida collected from cattle at Tehran AND Alborz slaughterhouses

This abattoir-based investigation was conducted in search for presence of Pasteurella multocida, collection of its isolates, characterization of their biochemical profiles and also classification of their capsular types in Tehran and Alborz provinces. Swabs from 89 lungs and 595 nasal passages of bovine calves at a single slaughterhouse in Karaj (Karaj city) and 5 slaughterhouses in Tehran (Shahriar, Shahr-e-Ray, Robat Karim, Kahrizak and Varamin) were cultured on specific media. Among the 339 non-haemolitic individual colonies, 89 were proved P. multocida by conventional biochemical tests. The PM-PCR assay confirmed identity of 64 isolates as Pm where 60 were shown to belong to the capsular type A and a single one to capsular type B. The remaining 3 isolates were non-typeable. We believe still a lot needs to be done at the national level to fully acknowledge the epidemiology of Pm in Iran.