Isolation and Identification of Fungi from Lungs and Rumens of Small Ruminants

The current study aimed at the isolation and identification of some fungal types that infected the lungs and rumens of small ruminants (non-healthy animals). To achieve this goal, 100 samples from sheep, and goat lungs and rumen tissues (50 for each), were collected from the Basrah slaughterhouse. Fungi were isolated from the samples and diagnosed based on the morphology of colonies cultured on Sabraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) media, then detected microscopically after staining with methylene cotton blue and Indian ink stain. PCR and DNA sequencing of the18S rRNA ribosomal gene confirmed the important and common fungal isolates. The current study showed the presence of fungal isolates in lung samples of sheep including, Cryptococcus spp. (29.43%) represented the highest percentage. While the lowest percentage was Coccidioides spp. accounted for (4.878%). However, those isolated from the rumen of sheep in high percent was Cryptococcus spp. (48.571%), and finally, the lungs contained Coccidioides spp. (4.878%). The result of fungal isolates from the lungs of the goats in high numbers was Aspergillus spp. (42.5%), the fungal isolate that appears in low numbers, Candida spp. (7.5%).