pathological and molecular detection of mycoplasma ovipneumoneae in sheep, basrah province, iraq

mycoplasma ovipneumonea (m. ovipneumonea) are microorganism’s causes atypical pneumonia in (sheep and goat). mycoplasma is isolated frequently from pneumonic cases (lung, trachea, and nose) of sheep but can also be found in the respiratory tract of healthy sheep. this study aimed to isolate, identify, and pathological examination of m. ovipneumonea in sheep. samples in the current study were collected from sheep of both sex and 6-10 months of age in basrah slaughterhouse, suffering from respiratory signs associated with ocular, nasal discharge, and coughing. nasal swabs were collected from the nose before slaughtering; other swabs were collected from the trachea and bifurcation of bronchus for bacterial isolation on pplos. tissue specimens are frozen for dna gene-based pcr analysis and for preparing paraffin blocks for histopathological examination. the bacterial cultures revealed isolates of mycoplasma were positive on (pplo) broth with agar from the morphological colonies of mycoplasmaovipeumonea fried egg type colony morphology. pcr results revealed the 16s rrna gene of mycoplasma sp. the appearance revealed different stages of pulmonary changes like respiratory congestion, edema, and hemorrhagic spots on the surface of the lungs, and their air passages contained inflammatory exudate. the microscopic lesions represent acute fibrinous-suppurative broncho-interstitial pneumonia. m. ovipneumoniae was a prevalent respiratory infectious disease in iraqi’s sheep-basrah province with frequent bacterial isolation, pneumonic pathological changes in animals suffer from different respiratory manifestations.