First Serodiagnosis of Brucella ovis Among Rams With Epididymo-orchitis in Mosul City, Iraq

BRUCELLA ovis is an infectious cause of ovine contagious epididymitis in sexually mature rams, resulting in epididymo-orchitis leading to major economic losses to the sheep industry worldwide .For serodetection of anti Brucella ovis antibodies among sexually mature rams with epididymo-orchitis by using commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (I-ELISA; IDEXX B. ovis Ab Test kit; Idexx Montpellier, France). During the period from September 2017 to the September 2018, a 200 sera were collected from 42 commercial flocks in Mosul city, Iraq. Scrotal palpation of rams may suggest the presence of this infection in a given flock. The results of the study revealed that, the seropositive animals for B. ovis infection was (12 250) 4.8 % . The clinical alterations were observed by palpation in the seropositive rams , mainly on epididymes (66.7%)and testicles (33.3%), and (83.3%) alterations were unilateral, and 2/12 (16.7%) bilateral. This is the first study of serodiagnosis of ovine contagious epididymitis in Mosul city, Iraq. The study provided important information for authorities to planning the control and eradication program.