Transmission of Mycobacterium orygis (M. tuberculosis complex species) from a tuberculosis patient to a dairy cow in New Zealand

Abstract

Mycobacterium orygis, previously called the oryx bacillus, is a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and has been reported only recently as a cause of human tuberculosis in patients of South Asian origin. We present the first case documenting the transmission of this organism from a human to a cow.

Fig 1

Summary diagram and phylogenetic positions of the genomic markers tested on the isolates from case A and case B as well as on one reference strain each of M. tuberculosis, M. africanum, M. bovis, M. microti, and M. pinnipedii. Ten RDs are represented by circles and denoted A to J; four different alleles of gyrB are denoted 1 to 4, an allele of Rv1510 is denoted 5, and an allele of Rv2042c is denoted 6. Presence or absence of RDs was determined by PCR using primers reported from previous studies, as shown in Table 1.