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. 2017 Jun;64(3):815-825.
doi: 10.1111/tbed.12445. Epub 2015 Nov 13.

Isolation and Potential for Transmission of Mycobacterium bovis at Human-livestock-wildlife Interface of the Serengeti Ecosystem, Northern Tanzania

B Z Katale  1   2 , E V Mbugi  1 , K K Siame  3 , J D Keyyu  2 , S Kendall  4 , R R Kazwala  5 , H M Dockrell  6 , R D Fyumagwa  2 , A L Michel  7 , M Rweyemamu  8 , E M Streicher  3 , R M Warren  3 , P van Helden  3 , M I Matee  1
Affiliations

Isolation and Potential for Transmission of Mycobacterium bovis at Human-livestock-wildlife Interface of the Serengeti Ecosystem, Northern Tanzania

B Z Katale et al. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), is a multihost pathogen of public health and veterinary importance. We characterized the M. bovis isolated at the human-livestock-wildlife interface of the Serengeti ecosystem to determine the epidemiology and risk of cross-species transmission between interacting hosts species. DNA was extracted from mycobacterial cultures obtained from sputum samples of 472 tuberculosis (TB) suspected patients and tissue samples from 606 livestock and wild animal species. M. bovis isolates were characterized using spoligotyping and Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) on 24 loci. Only 5 M. bovis were isolated from the cultured samples. Spoligotyping results revealed that three M. bovis isolates from two buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) and 1 African civet (Civettictis civetta) belonged to SB0133 spoligotype. The two novel strains (AR1 and AR2) assigned as spoligotype SB2290 and SB2289, respectively, were identified from indigenous cattle (Bos indicus). No M. bovis was detected from patients with clinical signs consistent with TB. Of the 606 animal tissue specimens and sputa of 472 TB-suspected patients 43 (7.09%) and 12 (2.9%), respectively, yielded non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), of which 20 isolates were M. intracellulare. No M. avium was identified. M. bovis isolates from wildlife had 45.2% and 96.8% spoligotype pattern agreement with AR1 and AR2 strains, respectively. This finding indicates that bTB infections in wild animals and cattle were epidemiologically related. Of the 24 MIRU-VNTR loci, QUB 11b showed the highest discrimination among the M. bovis strains. The novel strains obtained in this study have not been previously reported in the area, but no clear evidence for recent cross-species transmission of M. bovis was found between human, livestock and wild animals.

Keywords: Mycobacterium bovis; MIRU-VNTR; human-animal interface; serengeti ecosystem; spoligotype.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the Serengeti ecosystem showing the distribution of M. bovis spoligotype and study sites where animal tissues and human sputum samples collected at slaughter houses and hospitals respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree based on spacer oligotyping of M. bovis strains sampled from Serengeti and other ecosystems in Tanzania (Clifford et al., 2013; Makondo, 2013; Mwakapuja et al., 2013b), Uganda (Oloya et al., 2007; Muwonge et al., 2012), Zambia (Munyeme et al., 2009) and Ethiopia (Biffa et al., 2010).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Phylogenetic relationship and 24 MIRU‐VNTR loci set variability of M. bovis isolated from cattle and wildlife.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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