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Objective: To evaluate serological findings of bovine leptospirosis which is a zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution caused by Leptospira interrogans. Methods: One hundred and sixty seven sera were collected from 9 commercial dairy herds in jiroft suburbs, from July to October 2011. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used to evaluates serological findings of bovine leptospirosis in Jiroft suburb dairy farms, Kerman province, Iran. Results: Antibodies were found by MAT at least against one serovar of Leptospira interrogans in 29 samples (17.36%) among 167 sera at a dilution 1:100 or higher, and Leptospira pomona was the most prevalent serovar. Positive titers against more than one serovar were detected in 6 sera of the positive samples. Conclusions: This study is the first report of leptospirosis in Southeast Iran and showed that Leptospira pomona was the most and Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae the least prevalent serovars in Southeast Iran.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Leptospira interrogans. It causes financial loss to the cattle industry with decreased milk production, abortion, stillbirth, infertility, and mortality. This study was conducted to evaluate two serological techniques, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for detection of leptospiral antibodies in cattle. Three hundred and fifty five serum samples were collected from five commercial dairy farms in Tehran suburb from December 2004 to June 2005. The results of the MAT protocol showed that 55 serum samples (15.49%) had detectable antibodies against at least one serovar of L. interrogans at a dilution of ≥ 1:100. Icterohaemorrhagiae was the most (42.52%) and ballum the least (1.15%) prevalent serovars among 87 positive reactions against different serovars of L. interrogans. Leptospiral antibodies were also detected by the ELISA in 77 sera (21.69%) of 355 samples. The results of this study also showed that 2.25% of the sera that reacted positive in the MAT were negative by the ELISA, and 8.45% of the MAT negative sera were positive by the ELISA. Comparison between two techniques showed that there was a high correlation (0.61 < kappa = 0.649 < 0.8) between the ELISA and MAT for detection of leptospiral antibodies in cattle.

The tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus is one of the most important ectoparasites of bovines and is responsible for the transmission of different pathogens such as Babesia and Anaplasma. Cysteine proteases are involved in several host-tick interactions including invasion of host tissues, immune evasion, pathogen transmission, embryogenesis and blood digestion. In this study, the gene encoding R. annulatus cathepsin L-like enzyme (RaCL1) was cloned into pTZ57R/T vector, sequenced and analyzed using bioinformatics approaches. The nucleotide length of RaCL1 was 999 bp. Bioinformatics analysis showed 332 amino acids with an approximate molecular weight of 36.3 kDa which contained a signal peptide sequence (18 amino acids), pro-region (97 amino acids) and mature enzyme (217 amino acids). Multiple sequence alignment of the RaCL1 revealed high similarity to cathepsin L-like cysteine proteases from other tick species such as Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and Amblyomma variegatum. Based on bioinformatics analyses, results of this work suggest that RaCL1 can be a suitable candidate for the development of vaccine against R. annulatus.

A 1-week old, two-humped female camel (Camelus bactrianus) calf with continual whining, epiphora, anorexia, muscle twitching, and lateral recumbency was referred to a veterinary hospital. Although she died shortly after preliminary clinical examination, but necropsy was performed and tissue samples were taken for further microbiological and pathological examinations. On bacteriological investigation, Salmonella typhimurium and Streptococcus agalactiae were isolated. Histopathologically, lesions consisted of hyperemia and hemorrhage in all serosal and mucosal surfaces, gastroenteritis, and purulent ascites, associated with suppurative omphalitis. Acute nutmeg liver demonstrated centrilobular congestion and moderate fatty changes without any inflammatory cell infiltration. The abomasal and intestinal mucosa were hemorrhagic and erosive. The brain was hyperemic with severe fibrinopurulent meningoencephalitis. Except for dromedary camels and llamas, there has been no previous report of an acute, fatal septicemia in a two-humped camel calf due to S. typhimurium accompanied by S. agalactiae.