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. 2025 Apr 2;12(4):326.
doi: 10.3390/vetsci12040326.

Prevalence and Genotyping of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Sheep from Inner Mongolia, China

Rong Zhang  1 , Yue-Rong Lv  2 , Bo Yang  3 , Hao Wang  2 , Jun-Tao Jia  4 , Zhi-Hong Wu  5 , Ming Nie  6 , Lian-Yang Sun  7 , Shi-Yuan Xue  2 , Yu-Lin Ding  2 , Rui-Bin Chen  1 , Siqin Tunala  1 , Li Zhao  2 , Yong-Hong Liu  2
Affiliations

Prevalence and Genotyping of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Sheep from Inner Mongolia, China

Rong Zhang et al. Vet Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Paratuberculosis (PTB) is a chronic wasting disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in ruminants. It is difficult to diagnose, prevent, treat, and eradicate, thereby causing serious economic losses to the livestock industry. Therefore, finding a detection method with high sensitivity and specificity is crucial to preventing and controlling PTB.

Methods: A total of 1585 fresh fecal samples were collected from 12 prefectures and cities across Inner Mongolia between March 2022 and October 2024. The samples were subjected to pretreatment, followed by DNA extraction. Subsequently, MAP detection and genotyping were performed using a two-step qPCR method.

Results: The overall prevalence of MAP in ovines was 3.34% (53/1585), with the prevalence in 12 prefectures and cities ranging from 0% (0/100) to 7.73% (15/194). In the eastern, central, and western regions, the prevalence rates were 4.74% (31/654), 3.68% (14/394), and 1.49% (8/537); in small-scale and intensive farms, they were 3.23% (22/682), and 3.56% (31/903); and in goats and sheep, they were 0.91% (2/219) and 4.98% (36/723), respectively. The overall prevalence rates of C- and S-type MAP were 2.90% (46/1585) and 0.44% (7/1585), respectively.

Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to conduct an epidemiological investigation of PTB in sheep across all nine cities and three leagues in Inner Mongolia and to perform MAP typing on a large scale. It elucidated the differences in the prevalence of PTB in different regions of Inner Mongolia and found that geographical location and sheep breed are potential risk factors for the differences in MAP prevalence. Furthermore, it has been shown that C- and S-type MAP coexist in the eastern and central regions of Inner Mongolia.

Keywords: China; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis; genotype; prevalence; qPCR.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic map of the sampling locations in Inner Mongolia, China. The figure was originally designed by the authors using QGIS 3.42 software. The original vector diagram imported in QGIS was adapted from MAP WORLD (https://www.tianditu.gov.cn/?4) (accessed on 2 February 2025).
Figure 2
Figure 2
MAP Classification Roadmap.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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