Development of a live cell culture camelpox vaccine.

A Saudi isolate of camel orthopoxvirus was serially propagated on monolayers of camel kidney cell cultures. The attenuation of the 78th passage was tested in two susceptible camels. Two other susceptible camels were inoculated with vaccinia virus four times propagated in camel kidney cell cultures.

Experimental treatment of Brucella melitensis infection in sheep with oxytetracycline alone or combined with streptomycin.

The efficacy of oxytetracycline (OTC) alone or combined with streptomycin in the treatment of 118 Najdi ewes believed to have been naturally infected with Brucella melitensis, was evaluated by culture of selected tissues and organs at slaughter. Groups of sheep were given 250, 500 or 1,000 mg of OTC intraperitoneally (i/p) daily for six weeks and in the respective groups at necropsy 52, 69 and 100% of sheep were found to be Brucella-free. Treatment with 250 mg OTC (daily for six weeks i/p) combined with 1,000 mg streptomycin (daily for three weeks intramuscularly) increased the percentage of Brucella-free sheep to 82%.

Mycoplasmas isolated from goats and sheep with pleuropneumonia in Saudi Arabia.

Pleuropneumonia of goats and sheep has been known to cause serious economic losses in many countries including Saudi Arabia. A preliminary investigation was carried out on 163 goats and 130 sheep which showed clinical symptoms or post-mortem lesions of pleuropneumonia. Pathological samples from the respiratory tract of live or slaughtered goats and sheep (183 and 160 samples respectively) were cultured for mycoplasmas.

Mastitis in Camelus dromedarius in Saudi Arabia.

The correlation between camels' milk samples collected from abnormal inflamed udders and samples positive in the California Mastitis Test (CMT) was +0.803 (P less than 0.01).

Control of ovine brucellosis in Najdi sheep in Saudi Arabia.

A practical programme for control of ovine brucellosis in a Najdi sheep flock at Haradh and protection of sheep handlers from infection was implemented. Haradh sheep were serologically tested three times at six-month intervals. Of 2,721 sheep subjected to the first tests, 387 (14.