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Background: Brucellosis is the most important public health problem worldwide, and the annual incidence of the disease in humans is 2.1 million. The Brucella genome is highly conserved, with over 90% similarity among species. The aim of this study was to perform species-level identification of Brucella spp. strains isolated from humans diagnosed with brucellosis and to further investigate the phylogenetic relationships using multiple locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis (MLVA)-16 and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. Materials and Methods:Brucella spp. was isolated from the blood cultures of 54 patients who tested positive for brucellosis through serological examinations. Real-time PCR was used to identify the isolates in species, and the genus level of Brucella was confirmed with 16S rRNA. All isolates were subjected to phylogenetic analysis using variable number of tandem repeat analysis with multiple loci. Results: Subsequent analysis via real-time PCR confirmed these isolates to be of the Brucella melitensis species. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis showed 100% homogeneity among the isolates. MLVA revealed the formation of five different genotypic groups. While two groups were formed based on the 16S rRNA sequence analysis, five groups were formed in the MLVA. Conclusions: The study concluded that 16S rRNA sequence analysis alone did not provide sufficient discrimination for phylogenetic analysis but served as a supportive method for identification. MLVA exhibited higher phylogenetic power. The widespread isolation of B. melitensis from human brucellosis cases highlights the importance of controlling brucellosis in small ruminants to prevent human infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Brucellosis caused by bacteria of the Brucella genus is a globally important zoonotic disease. B. abortus, which usually causes abortion and infertility in cows, can cross-infect ruminants and also cause chronic disease in humans. Controlling outbreaks in ruminants is essential to prevent economic losses and human disease due to bovine brucellosis. Since classical phenotypic methods alone are insufficient in monitoring epidemic strains of B. abortus, genotypic surveillance has become crucial today. We aimed to determine the role of B. abortus strains in the abortion etiology of domestic ruminants in the Cukurova region, Türkiye, reveal the phylogenetic relationships of the isolated strains using molecular methods and examine the availability of these methods in this field. Methods: One hundred eighteen abortion samples were included in the study. Following the isolation and identification of B. abortus, the clonal relationship between these isolates was investigated by Pulse-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and Multi-Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) methods. Results: B. abortus was detected in 17 (14.4%) of 118 abortion cases examined. The distribution of B. abortus isolates among cattle, goats and sheep was 72.2% (13/18), 5.9% (3/51) and 2.0% (1/49), respectively. The 14 (82.4%) of B. abortus isolates were biovar 3. A single cluster and four pulsotypes (HGDI=0.5662) were determined by the PFGE, five types (HGDI=0.6838) by the MLVA-16, and six genotypes (HGDI=0.7132) by evaluating these two methods together. Genotype 1, which consists of nine (52.9%) isolates, six obtained from cattle and three from goats, was predominant. Conclusion: Although the discriminative powers of the PFGE and MLVA methods were not high enough when a small number of samples were examined, the discriminatory power of MLVA-16 was determined to be higher than PFGE in determining the regionally predominant B. abortus genotypes. Moreover, the use of both together was even more effective. Since using the two methods together in epidemiological studies requires additional costs and effort, it was concluded that the predominant genotypes could be determined, especially during epidemic periods and evaluated in vaccine studies. Additional examination of human clinical specimens in epidemic areas will further strengthen the results to be obtained. Thus, our study will provide essential data for the studies to be performed in order to control brucellosis outbreaks, which constitute a serious public health problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abortion in ruminants is an important problem in Turkey and it leads to serious economic losses for farmers. The aim of this study is to diagnose Chlamydia abortus in ruminant abortions in the Marmara Region of Turkey and to determine the genotypes of the agent and obtain the first national epidemiological data in this sense. For this purpose, a total of 730 abortion materials (fetal tissue, fetal stomach contents, placentas, cotyledons, vaginal swabs) belonging to 267 cattle, 380 sheep, 70 goats and 13 water buffaloes were examined for C. abortus with species specific real-time PCR. DNAs of positive samples were genotyped by the Multilocus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) method. From 730 materials, 87 (11.9%) were found positive for C. abortus. Positivity rates were 21.4% in goats, 16.6% in sheep, 7.7% in water buffaloes and 3% in cattle. The dominant genotype was found to be MLVA genotype 2 (93.1%), and 4 different genotypes including genotypes 3, 4, and 5 were involved in infections. So it is concluded that genotypic diversity of C. abortus is high in the Marmara region. It was also revealed that C. abortus was responsible for a significant proportion of small ruminant abortions in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucellosis is the most common zoonotic disease in the Mediterranean region where Turkey is located. Therefore, particularly in this region, it is crucial to follow molecular surveillance methods for the control and eradication of this disease agent, which threatens both human and animal life. We have conducted a molecular-based surveillance study for detecting the origin of the possible reservoir in human brucellosis and transmission of Brucella spp. between humans and ruminants. For the detection of clonal relationships, we isolated Brucella spp. from human and ruminants diagnosed with brucellosis and evaluated them by PFGE and MLVA methods. We found 10 subclusters in PFGE and 22 subclusters in MLVA-16. Human and ruminant isolates were found to co-exist in MLVA-16-m1 and PFGE-a8, a9, a10 subcluster by both methods. In conclusion, the results revealed that these subcluster isolates that co-exist some ruminant and human isolates can be more effective in infecting humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Q fever is a zoonotic disease that is known to be widespread throughout the world by many researches since its discovery in 1935 and it is important in terms of animal and public health. Coxiella burnetii, which is the etiological agent of the disease, is an obligate intracellular pathogen. While the disease generally manifests itself with abortion in animals, disease manifests as atypical pneumonia or granulomatous hepatitis in the acute form and as endocarditis in the chronic form in humans. Its presence in Turkey has been shown with a large number of studies. The aim of this study was to show the genotypic relationship with MLVA analysis of C. burnetii samples found in cattle, sheep and goat samples in Erzurum and Samsun Veterinary Control Institutes and blood samples collected from humans with atypical pneumonia findings. In the study, MLVA analyses of 100 positive samples from 50 cows, 41 sheep and 9 goats from Northeast Anatolia and Black Sea regions and C. burnetii positive samples found in 6 individuals with atypical pneumonia were performed. As a result of the study, it was found that 106 C. burnetii samples had belong to 16 genotype groups. It was found that genotype XVI was the most prevalent among these groups and it was seen in both regions. In addition to this, genotype IX profile was the second largest group with 83.3% (5/6) of human samples. In this study, the genotypes common in the regions were determined and a data source was created for possible outbreaks. • Genotyping of Coxiella burnetii isolates was performed for the first time in Turkey. • Genotyping of Coxiella burnetii isolates from humans, cattle, sheep and goats was performed with MLVA. • Coxiella burnetii genotypes isolated from humans were determined to have close MLVA profiles with bovine isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brucellosis is caused by Brucella , and Brucella melitensis is highly prevalent in small ruminants in Turkey. Our aim was to genotype 50 B. melitensis strains isolated from sheep, goat, and cattle abortion samples from different farms in seven geographical regions of Turkey between 2009 and 2017. Forty-six different genotypes were detected in 50 isolates studied according to the MLVA-16. Thirty out of 50 isolate profiles matched profiles from the database exactly, and the remaining 20 were absent. Of these 30 isolates, 93.3% were identical to human isolates previously present in the database. All B. melitensis strains belonged to the eastern Mediterranean group. Genotype 43 was the most common isolate profile, and sequence typing (ST8) was dominant and detected in 39 strains. MLST analysis revealed a novel profile in 11 strains. On comparing the sequences of ST8 and the novel ST, a glucokinase gene variation was detected. In the MLST and MLVA analyses, no distinction was made between B. melitensis biovars. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the strains based on host, region, and year. Consequently, the discrimination power of MLVA was higher than that of MLST in this study. Contrastingly, MLST was useful in distinguishing strains according to geographic origins, as determined by performer studies. Profiles determined by MLVA were the same as those in humans. This raises concerns in regard to One Health and transition between hosts, as it is clear that protecting animal health is very important for human health. • MLST analysis of Brucella bacteria was performed for the first time in Turkey. • We were unable to distinguish B. melitensis by biotype, year, host, and region. • A novel genotype (3−2-35−2-1−5-3−2-8) of Brucella was detected using MLST. • Previously unidentified genotypes (1−2-3−13-2−2-3−2-4−41-8−7-5−3-7−5) were detected using MLVA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]