title: Incidence of Burkholderia mallei infection among indigenous equines in India.
abstract: Burkholderia mallei is the causative agent of glanders which is a highly contagious and fatal disease of equines. Considering the nature and severity of the disease in equines, and potential of transmission to human beings, glanders is recognised as a 'notifiable' disease in many countries. An increasing number of glanders outbreaks throughout the Asian continents, including India, have been noticed recently. In view of the recent re-emergence of the disease, the present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of glanders among indigenous equines from different parts of India. Serum samples were analysed by complement fixation test (CFT) and ELISA for the detection of B mallei specific antibodies. A total of 7794 equines, which included 4720 horses, 1881 donkeys and 1193 mules were sampled from April 2011 to December 2014 from 10 states of India. Serologically, 36 equines (pony=7, mules=10, horses=19) were found to be positive for glanders by CFT and indirect-ELISA. The highest number of cases were detected in Uttar Pradesh (n=31) followed by Himachal Pradesh (n=4) and Chhattisgarh (n=1). Isolation of B mallei was attempted from nasal and abscess swabs collected from seropositive equines. Four isolates of B mallei were cultured from nasal swabs of two mules and two ponies. Identity of the isolates was confirmed by PCR and sequencing of fliP gene fragment. The study revealed circulation of B mallei in northern India and the need for continued surveillance to support the eradication.
authors.affiliation: ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines , Sirsa Road, Hisar 125001, Haryana , India.
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines , Sirsa Road, Hisar 125001, Haryana , India.
authors.forename: Harisankar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Singha
authors.affiliation: ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines , Sirsa Road, Hisar 125001, Haryana , India.
authors.forename: Sachin K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.affiliation: ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines , Sirsa Road, Hisar 125001, Haryana , India.
authors.forename: Sandip K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.affiliation: Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh , India.
authors.forename: Badri Naryan
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh , India.
authors.forename: Abha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dutt
authors.affiliation: Badaun, Uttar Pradesh , India.
authors.forename: Dabal
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Arki, Himachal Pradesh , India.
authors.forename: Neeraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jain
keywords: Equines; Glalnders; Surveillance; Zoonoses