Abstract

The infectious agalactia syndrome occurs worldwide but mainly in the Mediterranean regions, north, central and east Africa, and western Asian countries such as Iran.Mycoplasma agalactiae is the chief causal agent of contagious agalactia. The aim of this research was to use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to isolate and identifyM. agalactiae in suspected sheep samples in Iran. They cultured samples from 142 diseased animals and screened them with genus specific PCR oligomers. 59 samples were mycoplasma positive and subsequent testing of these samples with species specific oligomers identified 17 samples that were positive for the agalactiae species of mycoplasma. The derived results established that the detection of M. agalactiae as one of the agents of contagious agalactia in sheep and the prevalence of bacteria in Iranian sheep is lower than that in goats.

Key words: Mycoplasma agalactiae, contagious agalactia, identification, sheep, Iran.