Border disease virus and chlamydophila abortus co-infection in aborted sheep foetuses

Abortion in sheep and goats is one of the most important problems that affect small ruminants breed-ing in Turkey. The aim of this study was to examine the abortion cases in two sheep flocks. A high rate of abortion (43.75%) was observed in two sheep flocks in Nigde Province in Turkey during the lambing season in 2016. To de -termine the reason of abortion, aborted sheep foetuses (n = 3) and EDTA whole blood samples (n = 3) from mother of the foetuses were collected from two sheep flocks. Aborted foetuses and buffy coat cells of the EDTA whole blood samples were used for total nucleic acid extraction. Extracted nucleic acids were analysed for akabane virus (AKAV), bluetongue virus (BTV), peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), pestiviruses, Schmallenberg virus (SBV), Brucella spp., Chlamydophila abortus (C. abortus), Coxiella burnetii and Listeria monocytogenes. Border disease virus (BDV) RNA and C. abortus DNA were detected in three aborted sheep foetuses whereas other investigated infectious agents were not detected. Additionally, EDTA whole blood samples from mother of the foetuses were also found BDV posi-tive. This present case report is the first report on BDV and C. abortus co-infection in aborted sheep foetuses.