Diagnosis of Ehrlichia ruminantium in Ruminants in Central Sudan Using Polymerase Chain Reaction

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Ehrlichia ruminantium (causative agent of heartwater disease) in ruminants in Al Gezirah State (central Sudan) using PCR technique. A total of 170 blood samples spotted on filter paper were collected, 100 from sheep, 40 from goats, 20 from cattle and 10 from camels. DNA was extracted and amplified using the specific primers (HH1F and HH2R) for amplification of the target sequence (980 bp fragment) of pCS20 gene, the conserved gene region of all E. ruminantium strains. The study revealed a prevalence rate of 3.0% (3/100) among sheep and no one of goats, cattle and camels was positive for E. ruminantium. Two of the three positive sheep had shown clinical signs of heartwater while the third was apparently healthy. This study concluded that the heartwater disease exists in the central Sudan but may be of a low prevalence. More investigations of the disease in other regions of the Sudan using pCS20-PCR are recommended.