DefinePK

Abstract

The etiologic factors of abortion in sheep can be complicated by infections with more than one pathogen. This makes it difficult to identify the pathogen involved in abortions. In this study, we developed a real-time PCR-based diagnostic panel that can analyze many infectious agents simultaneously and allow faster diagnosis of some important infectious agents in ovine abortions. For this purpose, some important pathogens that are frequently detected in the study region and cause abortion in sheep (Bluetongue virus, Border disease virus, Peste des petits ruminant’s virus, Chlamydophila abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii) were selected as targets. In order to evaluate the diagnostic test panel, standard curves of positive standard nucleic acid samples were first generated, and the analysis processes checked. According to the test results, the panel proved to be highly sensitive and specific. All target pathogens were also detected within a few hours. On the basis of results obtained, it can be concluded that the developed system can be used as a diagnostic panel with a broad detection of infectious agents in sheep abortion.