Mycoplasma pneumonia is one of the most important infectious diseases that threaten sheep production. In order to investigate the epidemic status of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae infection in sheep, indirect hemagglutination assay was used to analyze 1679 serum samples collected from four different breeds of sheep (Kazak sheep, Hu sheep, Merino sheep, and Duolang sheep) in six regions in Xinjiang between 2012 and 2014. One thousand one hundred sixty-nine sheep nasal swabs and 180 lungs were PCR analyzed. The results showed that the average positive rates of the serum samples were 17.75 %. The positive rates were between 9.76 and 30.61 % in the four breeds. Among them, the Hu sheep had a significantly higher rate than other breeds (P < 0.05). The average positive rates of nasal swabs and lungs were 10.18 and 28.89 %, respectively. Based on the phylogenetic trees of 16S RNA gene, the isolates were closest to those strains isolated from inland areas of China, indicating that these epidemic isolates came from the trans-province introductions. Our survey suggests that quarantine is necessary for sheep imported from inland, and effective immunization should be implemented in sheep susceptible to M. ovipneumoniae in Xinjiang, China.

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Hydatid worms, hosted by humans and animals, impose serious human health risk and cause significant livestock production loss. To better understand the disease infection status in Xinjiang, China, we investigated the disease epidemics in 4 livestock animals, i.e., cattle, sheep (both sheep and goat), camels, and horses, slaughtered at the abattoirs in Urumqi, Yining, Tacheng, and Altay areas. The results showed that the animals were infected at different rates, in the order of sheep (9.8%), cattle (8.4%), camels (6.8%), and horses (4.3%). The infection rates were found to be different between the abattoirs in various regions even for the same animals. For sheep, the rates increased significantly as the animals grew older. It was 1.9% before 1 year of age and increased to 8.2% in the age of 1-2 years, and further increased to 12.3% when the animals were 3-4 years old, and reached 17.2% when they were 5-6 year old. Sheep older than 6 years had an infection rate of 19.5%. This study demonstrates that the 4 livestock animals in the pastoral areas in Xinjiang were infected by the parasites to various extend. This study is the first systematic investigation of the hydatid worms in various livestock animals in Xinjiang, China, which provides epidemiological information about the infection of hydatid worms in livestock, and is valuable in developing strategies for prevention and control of the hydatid disease.

To our knowledge, this is the first report confirming that Akabane virus infection is common in cattle and sheep of Xinjiang province, northwest China and providing useful epidemiological information for cattle and sheep abortion prevention and control.

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