Molecular Characterization and Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of ICorynebacterium pseudotuberculosis/I Isolated from Caseous Lymphadenitis of Smallholder Sheep and Goats

The present study aimed to isolate Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis from caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) in smallholder sheep and goats. Thereafter, antimicrobial resistance determinants, virulence characteristics, and phylogenetic analysis of the isolates were investigated. Our results revealed that 24.54% (54/220) of examined animals showed CLA-compatible lesions from which C. pseudotuberculosis was isolated. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that all isolates were resistant to bacitracin and florfenicol. Additionally, 92.6% of the isolates displayed resistance to penicillin and erythromycin, while none of the isolates were resistant to norfloxacin. Interestingly, 16.7% of C. pseudotuberculosis isolates recovered from sheep showed vancomycin resistance. Molecular characterization revealed that PLD, PIP, and FagA virulence genes were detected in all examined C. pseudotuberculosis isolates. The bla (β-lactam) resistance gene was present in all isolates. Additionally, 83% of sheep isolates carried the aminoglycoside (aph(3″)-lb), chloramphenicol (cat1), and bacitracin (bcrA) resistance genes. Notably, the glycopeptide (vanA) resistance gene was detected in 8% of the sheep isolates as a first report. Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction (ERIC-PCR) genotyping of 10 multi-drug resistant C. pseudotuberculosis isolates showed a high similarity index of 83.6% between isolates from sheep and goats. Nucleotide sequence analysis of partial 16S rRNA sequences of these isolates showed 98.83% similarities with biovar Ovis of globally available reference sequences on the Genbank database. In conclusion, this study emphasized the high isolation rate of C. pseudotuberculosis and its molecular characterization in smallholder sheep and goats in four districts in Egypt. Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) is a bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (C. pseudotuberculosis) that affects sheep and goats, leading to abscess formation in their lymph nodes. The present study aimed to isolate and identify C. pseudotuberculosis from CLA in smallholder sheep and goats, and determine the resistance patterns, virulence, and resistance genes of the isolates. Additionally, genotypic and phylogenetic analysis of the isolates was conducted using ERIC-PCR and DNA sequencing techniques. A cross-sectional study examined 220 animals (130 sheep and 90 goats) from 39 smallholder flocks for clinical signs of CLA. Fifty-four (24.54%)