Report on first confirmed outbreaks of contagious agalactia in small ruminants from Maharashtra State of India

Mycoplasma agalactiae causes contagious agalactia, a serious, economically important and OIE listed diseasesyndrome, in sheep and goats. There are no reports of this disease from Maharashtra state of India. The aim ofthe present investigation was to record epidemiological information and to detect M. agalactiae in clinical samplesfrom natural outbreaks of contagious agalactia. Clinically, anorexia, reluctance to follow the herd, lethargy and feverwere the initial clinical signs noted. Later, mastitis, arthritis and keratoconjunctivitis were noted as important clinicalsigns in both sheep and goats. However, all signs were not present in every case. DNA was extracted from mastiticmilk and articular exudate collected from suspected cases and PCR was performed using primers specific for 16S rRNA gene of Mycoplasma spp. The agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR product revealed the presence of bands of expected size (278 bp) indicating positive amplification. The nucleotide sequence analysis of PCR amplicons showed 100% identity with 16S rRNA gene of Mycoplasma agalactiae isolates JF4428 (Accession No. LT578418.1). The outbreaks of contagious agalactia were confirmed for the first time in Maharashtra state of India and carries epidemiological significance.