MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOPLASMA AGENTS IN SUSPECTED CONTAGIOUS CAPRINE PLEUROPNEUMONIA

Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is one of the common infections in the middle east regions. So far, there has not been received any report about isolation and identification of these agents in Iran. The aim of this study is to diagnose and isolate mycoplasma agents in suspected goat flocks. Total of 100 pneumonic lung specimen from 20 CCPP suspected flocks were collected from abbatoirs close to Kermanshah during 1384-1386 and had been sent to Microbiology Lab. Gross lesions showed hepatization with grey and white lesions (consolidation) and motley appearance with or without fibrin. The minced tissue were inoculated to PPLO broth agar. After multiple passages, typical mycoplasma colony was isolated from 4 flocks (22/2%). Mycoplasma DNA was also extracted based on phenol- chloroform method and subjected to generic PCR with specific primers. In addition to the perivious positive samples from tissue culture, 5other flocks also showed contamination with Mycoplasma organisms in PCR tests(45%). Then, the samples were determined for Mycoplasma mycoides cluster infection, M. capricolum capripneumonia and M. mycoides mycoides (L. C), using M. agalactia as negative control, with specific primers in PCR, there has showed no contamination to these strains. However, to declare "free status " from CCPP in goat flocks requires more developed researches and much more samples in further investigation.