Contagious Agalactia of sheep and goat in the Sergipe State: preliminary dates

Abstract

The contagious agalactia is an infectious disease that affects sheep and goats characterized by mastitis with decreased milk production followed by agalactia, polyarthritis and keratoconjunctivitis. It is produced by Mycoplasma agalactiae alone or in combination with M. mycoides subsp. capri, M. putrefaciens and M. capricolum subsp. capricolum. Although an emerging disease in Brazil in some states in the Northeast region presents an endemic form. However, no data about infection in the state of Sergipe. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a preliminary survey of the disease in Sergipe. For this purpose, were analyzed 194 sera from sheep and goats coming from state of Sergipe for detection of anti-M. agalactiae antibodies using the indirect ELISA method and to investigated the presence of bacteria in the milk by polymerase chain reaction. All goat milk samples were negative in the PCR, but the ELISA revealed that 20 animals (10.3%) had circulating antibodies, indicating that the infection is present in the herds studied and should be conducted new researches to establish the risk of spread to other herds.