Abstract

Caseous lymphadenitis is an economically important bacterial disease of camels and small ruminants worldwide. This study is designed for the surveillance of caseous lymphadenitis in Sudanese and Somali camels slaughtered at Al-Warraq abattoir, Giza, Egypt during the period from January to November 2015. A total of 93 camels were subjected to clinical, postmortem examinations and tested by two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays based on Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis exotoxin and sonicated whole cell antigens. In addition, the validity of bovine tuberculosis gamma interferon assay to diagnose caseous lymphadenitis in camels was tested which is reported previously in small ruminants, but not in camels. Suspected caseous lymphadenitis lesions were detected in 33 (35.4%) camels compared to seropositivity percentage of 58.06% and 61.29% by exotoxin and sonicated whole cell antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, respectively. All lesion-affected camels were seropositive except for one animal (3.03%). On the contrary, only 25% of the lesion free camels were seronegative. There was no increase in gamma interferon assay optical density values of four caseous lymphadenitis confirmed cases in response to increased concentration of the stimulating exotoxin antigen. In conclusion, caseous lymphadenitis is prevalent among Sudanese and Somali camels imported for meat consumption in Egypt. Presence of a detectable lesion is highly indicative for seropositivity, but its absence does not indicate seronegativity. In addition, bovine tuberculosis gamma interferon assay has no value to diagnose caseous lymphadenitis in camels.

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