title: Infection of cattle in Kenya with Brucella abortus biovar 3 and Brucella melitensis biovar 1 genotypes.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Services, Central Veterinary Laboratories, Kabete, Waiyaki Way, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Esther N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Muendo
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Mbatha
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macharia
authors.forename: Theresia H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Abdoel
authors.forename: Paul V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Janszen
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pastoor
authors.forename: Henk L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Smits
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002003:Brucella abortus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002007:Brucellosis, Bovine / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing / Q000662:veterinary; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial