BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is one of the most dangerous worldwide infectious zoonotic diseases that are common between ruminants and human. Consumption of infected milk and by-products is the major transmission source to human. In Iran, sheep compared to cow, has a higher rate of contamination with brucellosis. Therefore, early detection and precision could be a starting point for any efficient program to control the disease in human and animals. For brucellosis monitoring, milk ring test (MRT) is recommended but the test is not reliable in sheep herds. Perhaps a more realistic outcome could be achieved by changing the antigen used in MRT. OBJECTIVES: Comparison of two Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis antigens in MRT for detection of Brucella antibodies in milk, as well as monitoring contamination of  ewe’s milk in Dezful region by detection of B. abortus and B. melitensis genes using PCR. METHODS: In this research, 220 milk samples from 16 different herds were collected from Dezful region’s nomadic at Khuzestan province. As the first step, MRT by two antigens, B. abortus and B. melitensis, were conducted on the samples. Next, the samples were subjected to detect Brucella genes using PCR technique. RESULTS: Results showed that 47 (21/3 %) out of 220 cases were positive by MRT test, in terms of both antigens of B. abortus and B. melitensis. In PCR, out of 220 samples, only 9 (4%) samples were positive for specific genes of B. melitensis which were MRT positive as well. CONCLUSIONS: A significant difference between B. abortus and B. melitensis antigens was not observed in MRT. Although the nature and basis of PCR and MRT methods for the diagnosis of brucellosis is different but a significant difference between the results obtained by PCR and MRT showed that MRT even by changing of antigens is still not authentic. Considering that various methods of identification have their limitations, it is recommended that in ewe’s milk samples, in addition to using a serological method as screening, PCR and culture methods should be used for definitive diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis or Malta fever is one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases considered as a health and economic concern.OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to employ several methods to detect Brucella in blood and milk samples of saanen goat and use a safe and definitive method to diagnose this disease.METHODS: In this study, 122 blood samples and 122 milk samples were collected from saanen goats. After culture and serological-based isolation methods (RBPT, Wright, 2ME, and Ring test), DNA was extracted from all the blood and milk samples. PCR was carried out using B4 and B5 primers on all the extracted DNAs in order to detect the B. abortus and B. melitensis; PCR was carried out with Br.a and Br.m primers.RESULTS: The results of all the blood samples were negative, but bacterial growth was observed in three milk samples, which was detected in biotyping, biovar 1 melitenensis. The PCR results for detection of Brucella spp. of nine blood samples and nine milk samples were positive. Using mPCR primers, B. melitensis were identified through all the nine milk and blood samples.CONCLUSIONS: Herein, we found that better bacterial diagnostic system and choosing an appropriate technique for rapid detection, such as PCR and Real Time PCR, in addition to popular awareness and other functions of national veterinary medicine institute could control the diseases and decrease their incidence successfully.