SUMMARY In Argentina little is known about the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) infection in swine. We characterized the epidemiological dynamics of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection in a swine population of Argentina using molecular tools and spatial analysis techniques. Isolates (n = 196) obtained from TB-like lesions (n = 200) were characterized by polymerase chain reaction. The isolates were positive to either M. bovis (IS6110) (n = 160) or M. avium (IS1245) (n = 16) while the remaining 20 (10.2%) isolates were positive to both M. bovis and M. avium. The detection of both bacteria together suggests co-infection at the animal level. In addition, MAC-positive isolates (n = 36) were classified as M. avium subsp. avium (MAA) (n = 30) and M. avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) (n = 6), which resulted in five genotypes when they were typed using mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit, variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR). One significant (P = 0.017) spatial clustering of genotypes was detected, in which the proportion of MAH isolates was larger than expected under the null hypothesis of even distribution of genotypes. These results show that in Argentina the proportion of TB cases in pigs caused by M. avium is larger than that reported in earlier studies. The proportion of M. bovis-MAC co-infections was also higher than in previous reports. These results provide valuable information on the epidemiology of MAC infection in swine in Argentina.
Mycobacterioses can produce nonspecific clinical signs in dogs and cats that make diagnosis difficult. Furthermore, the full characterization of mycobacterial agents is not always possible or practical. We characterized mycobacteria detected through cytology in 12 dogs and 7 cats with generalized clinical signs from the province of Buenos Aires in Argentina. In dogs, molecular testing confirmed the presence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) in 8 cases and M. fortuitum in 1 case. All dogs were Miniature Schnauzers, suggesting that this breed may be more susceptible to M. avium than other dog breeds. The cat isolates were 2 M. bovis, 1 M. fortuitum, and 1 MAH. Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable-number tandem repeat patterns suggested possible links with cattle, swine, and humans studied previously in Argentina. The results show that pets may act as susceptible hosts with the potential risk of transmitting the infection to humans and other animals.
A total of 143 Mycobacterium bovis isolates of pigs, from the most productive swine area in Argentina, were typed by spoligotyping. Twenty-two different spoligotypes were identified, and 133 (93%) isolates were grouped into 12 clusters. One of them, designed SB0140, was the most frequent because it held 83 (58%) isolates. This spoligotype also grouped 362 (43%) out of 841 isolates from previously typed cattle and, thus, constitutes the most frequent in our country. In addition, 135 (94%) isolates revealed spoligotypes identical to those of cattle, showing an epidemiological link. On the other hand, there were seven novel spoligotypes, six of which were also unique since they had only one isolate each. This study aimed to identify the spoligotypes of M. bovis isolated from pigs to contribute to a better understanding of the distribution of bovine tuberculosis in the main productive area of Argentina.
Dorta de Mazzonelli y col., 1997;
). From these results, it might be inferred that urine of domestic or wild species which lived with studied camelids, could have been the contagious source.]]>
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