Glanders in horses in some selected areas of Bangladesh and comparison between CFT and Immunoblot used for the screening of glanders

Glanders is a fatal infectious and notifiable zoonotic disease of equines caused by the Gram-negative non-motile bacterium Burkholderia (B.) mallei, which is responsible for chronic suppurative lesions of the skin and mucous membranes, pneumonia and septicemia in equines. Glanders in horses is worldwide distributed and reported from many countries. But no prevalence study was done in Bangladesh so far. Therefore, this preliminary study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of glanders in horses using CFT and immunoblot assay. A total of 301 serum samples from horses were collected foe the detection of glanders antibodies from Mymensingh, Tangail and Jamalpur districts in Bangladesh. By CFT 105 samples were found positive and 23 samples were suspicious. The immunoblot confirmed 26 of these samples but 3 remained suspicious. The overall seroprevalence of glanders was 34.9% based on CFT and 24.8% based on immunoblot. Higher prevalence was found in Jamalpur (11.81%). CFT is considered to be a suitable screening test for the diagnosis of glanders in field conditions in Bangladesh.