Assessment of seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Chlamydia abortus among sheep and women with a history of abortion in Northern Egypt.

Authors

Haitham Elaadli, Yassien Badr, Magdy A A Ayad, Asmaa G Mubarak, Waleed Younis, Ehab K Elmahallawy, Samar A Eissa, Raafat M Shaapan

Published in

Open veterinary journal. Volume 15. Issue 12. Pages 6329-6341. Epub Dec 31, 2025.

Abstract

Chlamydia abortus (C. abortus) remains a notable zoonotic pathogen that is primarily responsible for abortion in sheep and goats. Despite its veterinary and zoonotic concerns.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence of C. abortus in humans and animals in northern and coastal Egypt and the associated risk factors.
A total of 196 blood samples of apparently healthy and aborted sheep were collected from different herds in three Egyptian governorates. A total of 242 blood samples were collected from women with a history of abortion admitted at El Shatby Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. The collected samples were serologically tested for specific anti-C. abortus antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay employing the major outer-membrane protein peptide followed by the investigation of various risk factors.
Chlamydia abortus Immunoglobulin G (IGg) antibodies could be detected in 12.2% of the sheep examined. Five sociodemographic characteristics were significantly associated with anti-C. abortus IgG antibody positivity in sheep: breed (X ² = 27.543; p = 0.000), governorate (X ² = 33.564; p = 0.000), breeding system (X ² = 24.298; p = 0.000), pregnancy status (p = 0.003), and history of abortion (p = 0.000). On the other hand, anti-C. abortus IgM antibodies could be detected in the sera of aborted women at a rate of 13.2%. By conducting a Pearson chi-square, a statistically significant association was detected between the infection in aborted women and residence (X ² = 27.428; p = 0.000), contact with sheep (X ² = 77.744; p = 0.000), history of miscarriage (X ² = 22.044; p = 0.000), and time of miscarriage (X ² = 54.550; p = 0.000).
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to address the seroprevalence of C. abortus in humans and the potential risk factors associated with exposure in northern and coastal Egyptian regions. Furthermore, it provides an updated overview of this zoonotic pathogen's seroprevalence among sheep in Northern Egypt.

PMID:
42376511
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Jun 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.