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Case Reports
. 2020 Nov 10;16(1):435.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-02665-0.

Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium caprae in a camel (Camelus dromedarius)

J A Infantes-Lorenzo  1 , B Romero  2 , A Rodríguez-Bertos  2   3 , A Roy  4 , J Ortega  2   5 , L de Juan  2   5 , I Moreno  1 , M Domínguez  1 , L Domínguez  2   5 , J Bezos  6   7
Affiliations
Case Reports

Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium caprae in a camel (Camelus dromedarius)

J A Infantes-Lorenzo et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Animal tuberculosis (TB) is distributed worldwide and has a wide range of wild and domestic reservoirs. Few studies concerning TB in camelids have been published in the last decade, particularly as regards Old World Camelids (OWC), but the increase in reports of TB outbreaks in these species in recent years suggests a high susceptibility to the infection.

Case presentation: We studied a dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) herd (n = 24) in which a Mycobacterium caprae infection was detected. The TB infection was confirmed in one animal at necropsy through the detection of TB lesions, mainly in the abdominal organs, and the subsequent isolation of M. caprae (SB0157 spoligotype). The whole herd was additionally tested using cellular and humoral based diagnostic techniques. The intradermal tuberculin test results were compared with those obtained using P22 ELISA for the detection of specific antibodies against the M. tuberculosis complex. The TB infected animal was a positive reactor to both the intradermal tuberculin tests and P22 ELISA, while the others were negative to all the diagnostic tests.

Conclusion: The present study found M. caprae infection in OWC. This is the first report of M. caprae infection in an OWC not living in a zoo. Since the animal was born in the herd and fed with goat's milk, this practice was suspected to be the potential source of TB infection, which was not confirmed in the other animals present in the herd. Moreover, our results highlight that the intradermal tuberculin test and the P22 ELISA could be valuable tools for the diagnosis of TB in OWC.

Keywords: Animal tuberculosis; Diagnostic tests; Mycobacterium caprae; Old World Camelids; Pathology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author Roy, A. is employed by CZ Veterinaria S.A, the owner of the Patent METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR TUBERCULOSIS DIAGNOSIS (EP3330286). None of the other authors of this paper have a financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Camel: Gross lesions: a Lung: Multifocal to coalescent pulmonary granulomas (arrows) with haphazar distribution on parenchyma lobes; b Spleen: Intraparenchymatous granulomas of various size (from 0,5 to 2 cm of diameter - arrows); Histological lesions: c Histological apperance of granuloma charecterized by central necrosis with dystrophic mineralization (*) compatible with granuloma type III (Wangoo et al., 2005). Bar = 1 mm; d Small number of pink bacilli (arrows) in the necrotic area (1 bacillus / HPF / 10 fields) can be observed (little bacillary lesion). Zielh-Neelsen technique. Bar = 50 μm
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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