Cellular assessment of nasal swabs from sheep showing rhinitis in Mosul city

Abstract

Nasal swabs were obtained from 28 adult sheep attended to teaching hospital belong to the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul, which showed rhinitis with serous or mucopurulent nasal discharge. Smears were made on clean glass slides, stained with giemsa and examined by oil immersed lens for cellular assessment. Cells have been counted, percentages and averages then calculated for each type of cells, a statistical comparison of average values have been made between samples of the two types of nasal discharges to identify the significant differences using one way analysis of variance and Dunkan tests at P≤ 0.05. The results showed presence of epithelial cells lining nasal cavity, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and red blood cells at percentages 29.63%, 14.42%, 13.83%, 0.29%, 14.58%, 5.79% and 20.23% respectively at serous nasal discharge samples and at percentages 30.02%, 26.65%, 1.96%, 0.54%, 17.58%, 6.21% and 16.84% respectively at mucopurulent nasal discharge samples. Statistical analysis demonstrated a significant elevation in percentage ratio of neutrophils at mucopurulent exudate than serous exudate. We concluded from the current study that most cases of rhinitis examined in sheep had an infectious nature rather than allergic.