Abstract
The present study was planned to detect Brucella melitensis infection in small ruminants and related histopathological lesions in organs. The study analyzed 23 animals of seropositive sheep and goats, obligatory slaughtered at different abattoirs in El- Menofia governorate, Egypt. Confirmed diagnosis of B. melitensis was carried out using bacterial isolation and biochemical identification with application of AMOS PCR. The study investigated 24 samples obtained from 5/23 (22 %) confirmed positive animals for Brucella melitensis. Histopathologically, granulomatous and pyogranulomatous reactions, interstitial fibrosis, multifocal necrosis with occasional dystrophic calcification were characteristic lesions of the examined endometrium, mammary glands and lymph nodes. The testis of infected ram revealed testicular degeneration with mild interstitial lymphocytic and histiocytic infiltration. The lymph nodes showed marked lymphoid depletion and diffuse macrophages infiltrates of the medullary sinuses. The study concluded that isolation and identification of organisms with PCR confirmation are the diagnosis gold standard and B. melitensis infection in sheep and goats characterized microscopically by chronic inflammatory reaction and widespread necrosis in different organs.