Characterisation of Brucella abortus biovar 3 isolates from Turkey as biovar 3b

Between 2002 and 2007, 75 strains of Brucella abortus were isolated from aborted bovine fetuses collected from several regions of Turkey. The isolates were all identified as B abortus biovar 3 by conventional methods. However, when they were analysed by enhanced amos-ery pcr, a 5·4 kb deletion, different from that in the Tulya strain ( B abortus biovar 3, atcc 23450), was identified in all of them. As a result, they were subtyped as B abortus biovar 3b.