Border disease is one of the serious viral disease responsible for worldwide significant economic losses in sheep and goats. The objectives of the current study were to verify the seroprevalence of border disease virus (BDV) using indirect ELISA-kit, to investigate the persistent infection (PI) using the antigen ELISA (Ag-ELISA) kit for local breeds of sheep and goats in Mosul city. A total of 364 blood samples (264 sheep and 100 goats) of 20 local Awassi sheep and Shami goat herds with ≥1.5 years old age were collected from different regions of Mosul city. The sampling areas have no vaccination history against BDV, The seroprevalence of BDV was significantly higher in sheep 46.9% (124/264) than in goats 16% (16/100) (P<0.05). The prevalence of PI of border disease in sheep was 1.4% (2/140), but not detected in goats. This is a preliminary study of BDV in Mosul city, indicating that BDV is highly prevalent in sheep and goats of this region.

Background and Aim: Coenurus cerebralis is the intermediate stage of the canine cestode, which infect sheep and goats, resulting mainly in neurological signs and causing direct and indirect economic losses. This study aimed to demonstrate the existence of C. cerebralis and to elucidate the role of this parasite in inducing neurological behaviors in sheep and goats. Materials and Methods: On the basis of historical data on neurological signs, we subjected 76 animals (49 sheep and 27 goats) of different ages, sexes, and geographical areas for molecular examination of their blood samples using the polymerase chain reaction assay. Results: Of the 76 animals, 23.68% tested positive for C. cerebralis infection. We found significant increases in infection (p<0.05) in sheep (26.53%) more than in goats (18.52%). Circling movement was prevalent significantly among both C. cerebralis-positive sheep and goats. The Nineveh region had a significant (p<0.05) increase in positive sheep and goats, and the sheep of all study regions were infected significantly (p<0.05) more than were the goats. We found no significant (p>0.05) variation between sheep ages ≥1-3 years and ≥3 years; however, both groups had a significantly (p≤0.043) higher positivity rate than did sheep ages <1 year. The findings of sheep ages <1 year and ≥1-3 years were significantly higher than those of the goats, but not for goats ages ≥3 years. Female sheep and goats showed a significant increase in positivity versus that for the males. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first report in Iraq targeting detection of C. cerebralis in sheep and goats with neurological behaviors; therefore, additional studies involving different animals in other regions using molecular techniques are needed.

Background and Aim: In Iraq, stray dogs represent a critical population of free-roaming animals, which probably play a role in the transmission of different infections to other animals. Canine distemper is one of the most growing viral threats to carnivores in many countries worldwide, including Iraq. Therefore, this study was aimed to diagnose the disease using serological and molecular assay and the role of risk factors in the spreading infection. Materials and Methods: In all, 158 venous blood samples were collected randomly from stray dogs in rural and sub-urban areas of Iraq from May 2019 to December 2020. The samples were examined serologically using two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits, immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM), and molecularly by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect and confirm chronic and acute infections. To determine the association between infection and various risk factors, the study animals were divided according to their locations, sexes, and ages. The age groups were ≤8 months (puppy), 1-3 years (young), and ≥3 years (old/mature). Results: ELISA result shows that 6.96% and 19.62% of dogs were seropositive for acute and chronic distemper, respectively. The titer of chronic infections (0.421±0.027) was significantly higher (p≤0.025) than that of acute canine distemper (0.337±0.016). On RT-PCR, 8.86% of dogs were found positive for distemper. Using RT-PCR as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of the IgM ELISA kit were 75% and 98.63%, respectively, whereas the positive and negative predictivity were 81.82% and 97.96%, respectively. A significant variation (p<0.05) was observed in the distribution of positive findings among the different epidemiological risk factors. Compared with rural areas, positivity was significantly higher (p<0.05) in sub-urban areas on IgM (26.92%) and IgG (64.15%) ELISA and RT-PCR (34.62%). On IgM ELISA and RT-PCR, no significant differences (p>0.05) were found among the three age groups; however, positivity was significantly higher (p≤0.048) in the ≥3 years group (22.73%) on IgG ELISA. Furthermore, only IgG ELISA showed a significantly higher (p≤0.032) positivity rate in female dogs (25.23%) than in male dogs (7.84%). Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Iraqi study to demonstrate acute and chronic canine distemper in stray dogs, suggesting that the prolonged shedding of virus from positive dogs is a critical point in the epidemiology of the disease. Additional studies in dogs or other carnivores are required to establish baseline data on the prevalence of the disease in Iraq.