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Published on: September 5, 2017
Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in non-human primates
Kim Fechner1, Kerstin Mätz-Rensing2, Karen Lampe2
1Division of Microbiology and Animal Hygiene, Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany.
Background:
Due to a sporadic occurrence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in non-human primates (NHP), the susceptibility of different NHP to MAP should be investigated.
Methods:
Fecal and tissue samples (ileum, ileocecal lymph node, bone marrow) of 20 animals (seven species) were analyzed by IS900-based PCRs and sequenced. Samples of MAP PCR positive NHP were further cultivated.
Results:
MAP DNA was detectable in two animals; the ileum of a cottontop tamarin and the bone marrow of a common marmoset. Cultivation of MAP failed. Sequence analysis revealed 100% homology to the MAP-K10 sequence. Pathohistological examinations offered no direct correlation to a MAP infection.
Conclusions:
MAP was detected for the first time in a common marmoset. But as both NHP suffered from other diseases, an asymptomatic infection with MAP was assumed. The detection of MAP in the bone marrow might play a role in establishing latent paratuberculosis, as known from tuberculosis.
