Abstract
Brucella melitensis biovar 1 was isolated from bovine milk samples from a herd in central Kenya, and Brucella abortus biovar 3 was isolated from aborted fetus materials and vaginal discharge fluids from cattle in central and eastern provinces of Kenya. All infections including those with B. melitensis were in cattle with reproductive problems kept in mixed herds indicating that cross infection occurs from small ruminants. Multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis genotyping revealed a close molecular homology of the B. melitensis isolates with an isolate from Israel and a close homology of the B. abortus isolates with an isolate from Uganda indicating that these genotypes have a wide geographic distribution. Infection of cattle with B. melitensis may complicate the control of brucellosis in this country.
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Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Director of the Veterinary Services, Nairobi, Kenya for his kind support and interest in the project. Esther Muendo was a fellow of IEAE and NUFFIC and we kindly acknowledge their contribution to this project through grant no. CK/KEN/10001.
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Muendo, E.N., Mbatha, P.M., Macharia, J. et al. Infection of cattle in Kenya with Brucella abortus biovar 3 and Brucella melitensis biovar 1 genotypes. Trop Anim Health Prod 44, 17–20 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-011-9899-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-011-9899-9